'Twas the night before. . . and all through the house (will there be a dry eye?) in which Mrs. Berry lives with her daughter Mary and Mary's two little girls (Mary's husband has just passed on suddenly) there is still a twitch of expectation. But not for the creature who appears in Mrs. Berry's room -- with tiny pink paws, and goodness only knows she hadn't anticipated the bedraggled little boy who turns up just before the day itself with its happy crinkle of packages. . . . Oh dear how dear, but then Miss Read's own audience won't be catnapping.