Carew, meanwhile, was unpacking the neat little parcel which had
come to him with Christmas greeting from the Daughters of the
Empire. Lined up for inspection before breakfast, every trooper had
received an exactly similar parcel; every one had given expression
to his thankful heart; then every one had gone away to inspect the
offering.
"This is kind of the ladies, very kind," Carew was observing, with a
perfectly grave face, as he drew out a handkerchief of spotty red
cotton and a khaki-colored nightcap. "Look, Weldon! These fit my
complexion to a charm, and will be wonderfully warm and comfortable.
What is in your grab bag?"
"Ditto, apparently," Weldon answered. "I think I shall keep these to
sport about at home in."
Carew shook his head.
"Oh, no. The kind ladies wish us to use them now, and you should
accept the gift according to the spirit in which it is given."
Taking off his wide felt hat, he replaced it with the wool nightcap,
covered the nightcap with the handkerchief and then put on the hat
over all the rest. "And what have we here?" he continued. "A pipe?
Oh, the naughty ladies! Cigarettes?" He smelled at them gingerly,
then sneezed into a corner of the scarlet kerchief.
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