The pleasant drawing-room was gaily decorated; all the windows of the house had contributed their flowers to it, but the curtains were not let down, that the gleaming in of the snow might recall the season of the year. Engravings and pictures relating to the sacred festival adorned the walls; and a pair of beautiful prints of this kind formed the present of the lady of the house to her husband. A considerable number of lamps, drawn high up and radiating on all sides, shed a festive light around, which yet seemed to play and sport with curiosity; for it showed known things distinctly enough, but what was strange and new could only be distinctly recognised and certainly appreciated after a time and by exact observation. Things had thus been arranged by the cheerful and thoughtful Ernestine in order that the impatience thus excited, half in jest and half in earnest, might be only gradually satisfied, and that the various little gifts might remain surrounded for a while in a glimmering and enlarging light.
Those who formed the intimate circle of friends here gathered together had, in fact, entrusted her with this work in order that she might bring together the gifts which they were bestowing upon each other into groups; and thus what would have appeared insignificant when separated, was capable of being arranged into a stately whole. And this is what she had now done. And just as in a winter garden, between the evergreen shrubs, the little blossoms of the galanthus and of the violet must be sought for under the snow or the protecting covering of the moss, so every one had their own portion hedged in by ivy, myrtles, and amaranths. The most delicate things lay concealed below white napkins or parti-coloured coverings, whereas the larger presents were scattered round about, or had to be searched for below the tables. The initials of their names were worked in little edible inscriptions upon the covers; and each one had then to try to find out the giver of the several gifts.
The company waited in the adjoining room, and their impatience gave a slight sting to the jesting that was meanwhile carried on. Under the pretence of guessing or betraying what would be found, gifts were fancifully suggested, the references of which to little foibles and habits, to merry incidents and ludicrous misunderstandings or accidental embarrassments, were not to be mistaken; and whenever a little stroke of this kind of humour was played off on any one, he did not fail to return it on all sides.
Only little Sophie moved about with great strides absorbed in herself; and her continual restlessness was almost as much in the way of the other members of the company, while they moved about and talked at will with each other, as they were to her. At last Antony, with feigned vexation, asked her whether she would not now willingly give all her presents for a magic mirror which would enable her to have a look at what was hidden by the closed doors.
‘At least,’ said she, ‘I would rather so than you; for you have certainly more calculation about you than curiosity; and you believe, besides, that the rays of your wonderful wisdom are not to be shut out by any walls.’ Then she sat down in the darkest corner, and rocked her little head in her upturned hands.
It was not long till Ernestine opened the door, against which she remained standing. But the joyful company, instead of hurrying eagerly, as was to be expected, to the ranged tables, stopped short suddenly when halfway into the room, where the whole scene could be taken in, and all of them turned involuntarily their look upon her. The arrangement of the whole was so beautiful, and it was such a perfect expression of her thought, that unconsciously and involuntarily their feelings and their glances were drawn to her. She stood half in darkness, thinking to enjoy unnoticed the loved forms before her and their light joyfulness; but she it was in whom at first they all found their delight. As if they had already enjoyed everything else there, and as if she had been the giver of it all, they gathered around her. The child clasped her knee and gazed at her with large eyes without smiling, yet with infinite lovingness. Her lady friends embraced her, and Edward kissed her beautiful downcast cheek; and, as was becoming in each case, they all showed her the heartiest love and devotedness. She herself had to give the sign for them to take possession of their gifts.
‘If I have arranged things to your satisfaction, my dear friends,’ she said, ‘see that you don’t forget the picture for the frame; and consider that I have only tried to do honour to the festival day and your gladsome love, the tokens of which you entrusted to me. Come then, and let each of you see what has been bestowed upon you; and those who cannot guess rightly, let them bear patiently to be laughed at.’
Of this, indeed, there was no lack. The ladies, both old and young, called out the name of the giver of every gift with great confidence, so that no one could deny it; but the men committed many mistakes; and nothing was more amusing, and also more annoying, than when they ventured upon a witty idea in conjecture, and when it was repudiated and returned under protest as bad change. ‘It must just be borne,’ said Leonard, ‘although it always naturally annoys us that the ladies excel us so much in acuteness in these agreeable little things; for as their gifts betray by their significance the finest attention, far more than is the case with ours, and as we enjoy this beautiful fruit of their talent, we must also accommodate ourselves to this other effect of it, although it puts us somewhat in the shade.’