On the 24th of December Fitz was at British headquarters in St.-Omer, in a gloomy frame of mind. He remembered how glibly he and others had told the men they would be home for Christmas. Now it looked as if the war could go on for a year or even more. The opposing armies sat in their trenches day after day, eating bad food, getting dysentery, lice and trench foot, and killing the rats that thrived on the dead bodies littering no-man's-land.

On Christmas Day, every soldier was to receive a gift from Princess Mary, the seventeen-year-old daughter of the king and queen. It was an embossed brass box containing tobacco and cigarettes, a picture of the princess, and a Christmas card from the king. There were different gifts for nonsmokers, Sikhs, and nurses, all of whom would get chocolate or candy instead of tobacco.

In the morning there was a freezing fog and the ground underfoot was hard. Fitz and Murray, who had been promoted a captain, gave out the princess's gifts at first light. Some of the men were huddled around braziers, trying to get warm, but they said they were grateful for the frost, which was better than the mud.

The German line, four hundred yards away, was hidden by a morning mist. Fitz heard faint music: the Germans were singing carols. Fitz thought he recognized "Silent Night."

He returned to the dugout for a grim breakfast of stale bread and tinned ham with the other officers. Afterwards he stepped outside to smoke. He had never been quite so miserable in all his life. He longed for clean underwear, a crisply ironed shirt, and to sit by the blazing coal fire with nothing better to do than read the stupid jokes in Punch magazine.

Murray followed him out of the dugout: "You're wanted on the telephone, Major. It's headquarters.”

With a worried frown Fitz ducked inside and picked up the field telephone. "Fitzherbert."

"Good morning, Major," said a voice he did not recognize. "Captain Davies here. I've been asked to pass you a message from home. Your wife has given birth to a bouncing baby boy, sir. Mother and son are both doing fine."

"Oh!" Fitz sat down suddenly on a box. Fitz had a son, and the earldom had an heir.

"As it's Christmas, sir, we thought the news might cheer you up."

"It does, I can tell you!"

"May I be the first to offer my congratulations."

"Most kind," Fitz said. "Thank you." But Captain Davies had already hung up.

Fitz realized the other officers in the dugout were staring at him in silence. Finally one of them said: "Good news or bad?"

"Good!" said Fitz. "Wonderful, in fact. I have become a father."

They all shook his hand and slapped his back. Murray got out the whisky bottle, and they drank the baby's health. "What'll he be called?" Murray asked.

"Viscount Aberowen, while I'm alive," Fitz said, then he realized that Murray was not asking about the baby's title, but his name. "George, for my father, and William for my grandfather. Bea's father was Peter Nikolaevich, so perhaps we'll add those as well.”

Murray seemed amused. "George William Peter Nicholas Fitzherbert, Viscount Aberowen," he said. "Quite enough names to be going on with!"

Fitz was bursting with pride and good cheer. "I might go along to the front line," he said when they had finished their whisky. "Pass out a few cigars to the men."

He left the dugout and walked along the communication trench. He felt euphoric. There was no gunfire, and the air tasted crisp and clean. He found himself thinking not about Bea but about Ethel. Was she happy in her house? He hoped she would deliver her baby safely, as Bea had.

glibly /ɡlɪbli/ : adv. 流利地、满口（保证）

dysentery /ˈdɪs.ən.tər.i/: n.痢疾

lice /laɪs/：n. louce的复数  虱子

embossed /ɪmˈbɒst/：adj. 浮雕的、凸印的

      历史上，玛丽公主曾经想要动用自己的私房钱为1914年参战的英军陆军和海军的士兵赠送圣诞礼物。在无法实现大范围发送后，玛丽公主将自己的名字出借给了当时的一些社会组织，由这些组织来筹措资金并且准备礼物。这位17岁的未成年小姑娘对于这个事情很热衷，当时白金汉宫发布了她的一封求助信，原文如下：

"I want you now to help me to send a Christmas present from the whole of the nation to every sailor afloat and every soldier at the front. I am sure that we should all be happier to feel that we had helped to send our little token of love and sympathy on Christmas morning, something that would be useful and of permanent value, and the making of which may be the means of providing employment in trades adversely affected by the war. Could there be anything more likely to hearten them in their struggle than a present received straight from home on Christmas Day?

Please will you help me?"

那这个小礼盒里有一些什么东西呢？原本安排的礼盒包括浮雕工艺的黄铜盒、一盎司烟草，20支香烟、一支烟斗、一只打火机、圣诞贺卡和玛丽公主的照片。不过很多人反映这个安排没有考虑到不抽烟的人，特别是在前线的女性护士们。所以，后来又增加了给不抽烟的人的礼盒安排，包括黄铜盒、一包酸咀嚼片或糖果和巧克力、含有铅笔的书写套装、信封信纸、圣诞贺卡和玛丽公主照片。另外，根据当时不同的人群，还有专门增加罐头香料等。这些标配在随后的操作中仍然供不应求，所以后来有增加了木梳、剃须刷、明信片、烟盒、剪刀或小刀以及外形和子弹一致的铅笔。

这一次捐款活动比预想的还要成功，大部分的小礼物都来自于普通的老百姓。但是由于战事焦灼，很多礼盒到了1918年停战日后都还没有发送完毕。最后统计下来，1914年玛丽圣诞礼盒一共生产了260万只。

玛丽公主的圣诞节礼盒

04

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