The little boys were
now large enough to sit in any chair; so a medium was fixed upon
to satisfy all the family, and the chairs were made uniformly of
the same height.
On consulting the carpenter, however, he insisted that the tree
could be cut off at the lower end to suit the height of the parlor,
and demurred at so great a change as altering the ceiling. But Mr.
Peterkin had set his mind upon the improvement, and Elizabeth
Eliza had cut her carpet in preparation for it.
So the folding-doors into the back parlor were closed, and for
nearly a fortnight before Christmas there was great litter of fallen
plastering, and laths, and chips, and shavings; and Elizabeth
Eliza's carpet was taken up, and the furniture had to be changed,
and one night she had to sleep at the Bromwicks', for there was a
long hole in her floor that might be dangerous.
All this delighted the little boys. They could not understand what
was going on.
Perhaps they suspected a Christmas-tree, but they did not know
why a Christmas-tree should have so many chips, and were still
more astonished at the hump that appeared in Elizabeth Eliza's
room. It must be a Christmas present, or else the tree in a box.
Some aunts and uncles, too, arrived a day or two before Christmas,
with some small cousins. These cousins occupied the attention of
the little boys, and there was a great deal of whispering and
mystery, behind doors, and under the stairs, and in the corners of
the entry.
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