It is Christmas morning in Seacliff, and the wintry sunrise is breaking through the mists over San Francisco, and splashing bright, yellow shadows over the fir trees and the green lawns. In the Barbour family home, where the family held their Christmas Eve celebration last evening, there are two lighted windows. In the kitchen, Mrs Kettleman is preparing coffee for an early riser, and in the master bedroom, Fanny Barbour has just reached sleepily above her to turn on the bed lamp and check the clock...