by Miss Read
In Lulling gardens a few tattered roses still clung to unpruned bushes, and one or two early crocuses and snowdrops were thrusting through the damp soil. The more morose inhabitants, such as Albert Piggott, reminded each other of the old saying that a green Christmas meant a full churchyard.
But on the whole, people rejoiced in the mild spell, and among them was Charles Henstock. He had been able to go about his visiting, and to attend the plethora of pre-Christmas festivities, unencumbered by slippery roads and snow drifts.
On the morning of the great day he awoke early as usual. Dimity was still deep in sleep, and the rector thought of the duties before him with real pleasure.
It would be a busy day. He was to go to Thrush Green first, to take Holy Communion at eight o'clock in the church he loved so well. At eleven he would officiate at Morning Service at St John's, and at three-thirty he was due at his most distant church at Lulling Woods for Evensong.
Today, he knew, those churches would be full and he would have the joy of seeing almost all his flock.
He looked forward keenly to his Christmas Day. It was still dark, but by the illuminated dial of the bedside clock he saw that he must rise if he wished to be in good time.
He smiled in the darkness. How lucky he was to have work that he relished! How lucky to have escaped from the gloomy valley he had been transversing, and to have entered the sunny uplands again!
He edged gently out of bed, hoping not to disturb his wife, but she stirred as he moved.
'Happy Christmas!' she murmured, her eyes still closed.
'It will be,' said the rector, with conviction.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Miss Read is actually Mrs. Dora Saint, whose novels draw on her own memories of living and teaching in a small English village. She first began writing after the Second World War, mainly light essays about school and country matters, for several journals. Her first book, Village School, was published in England by Michael Joseph and then in the United States by Houghton Mifflin Company in 1955. She has since delighted millions of readers with both the Fairacre series and her equally well loved series about the Cotswold village of Thrush Green. Miss Read and her husband, a retired schoolmaster, have one daughter and enjoy a quiet life near Newbury, Berkshire.
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