no use staying there any longer, and we went to the nursery.
Then Noël said, "Now I understand. Of course my Father is making a banquet for the Indian, because he is a poor, broken-down man. We might have known that from 'Lo, the poor Indian!' you know."
We all agreed with him, and we were glad to have the thing explained, because we had not understood before what Father wanted to have people to dinner for—and not let us come in.
"Poor people are very proud," said Alice, "and I expect Father thought the Indian would be ashamed, if all of us children knew how poor he was."
Then Dora said, "Poverty is no disgrace. We should honour honest Poverty."
And we all agreed that that was so.
"I wish his dinner had not been so nasty," Dora said, while Oswald put lumps of coal on the fire with his fingers, so as not to make a noise. He is a very thoughtful boy, and he did not wipe his fingers on his trouser leg as perhaps Noël or H. O. would have done, but he just rubbed them on Dora's handkerchief while she was talking. "I am afraid the dinner was horrid." Dora went on, "The
