Note: An unpublished story from manuscript. The editor of The Bazaar and Other Stories estimates that it was written in the mid-1950s.

Synopsis: Phyllida, a Canadian in England, is invited to spend Christmas at a country house by an unfamiliar woman who claims to have been a friend of her late aunt. In spite of difficulty with transportation, she arrives late on Christmas Eve, to find that the gathered company are remarkably unpleasant (except for one nephew) and that they are regarding her with odd avidity. It seems they needed her presence for some sort of festivities.