"What! You're not actually coming here?
Well, I should say that's the best news I've heard in a long time!"
And, smiling, he told this good news to the folks in the room.
"Doesn't it beat all!" he said, "Santa Claus is coming here to pay us
a visit."
He spoke into the 'phone again.
"How soon can you make it?--Fifteen minutes?"
He looked at his watch.
"Of course--we'll wait for you."
Then he hung up the receiver.
"As long as Santy will be here so soon, we'd better wait till he
comes, and let him distribute the presents, don't you think?"
He paused a minute, trying to remember.
"Let me see--when was it I last saw him?--yes, yes--it's all of forty
years. I was just a little shaver then. I wonder if he's changed much,
or grown much older."
As for the children, they could hardly think, much less talk. They sat
there, almost in a daze, blinking and looking at the little candles,
which seemed to wink back at them as if they had been in the jolly
secret all the time.
The youngsters had hardly gotten over their wonder and bewilderment,
when they heard sleighbells, and a loud "Whoa--whoa--you old reindeer,
whoa when I tell you!" Then there was a stamping on the porch and the
old brass knocker was lifted--it fell--"clack, clack"; the door
opened, and in walked the welcome guest.
Have you yourself ever seen Santa Claus, or only pictures of him?
Well, he really looks like his pictures, only more human--like people
you know and love, though of course more magnificent.
In the first place, he wasn't so fat--he was plump in the stomach, but
not so really round all over as in the old pictures of him. But
perhaps that is because when they were taken there weren't so many
children in the world to make things for, and he has grown just a
little thinner since then, being so busy, you know.
However, he had on the same red coat trimmed with white fur, the long
beard falling down over his chest, and the belt, and the rubber boots,
and the red woolen cap on his head. But his face had lost a little
flesh, and it wasn't all red as you see in the pictures, but brown and
red,--like--like--the Toyman's; and his eyes didn't pop out of his
head either, but were just like ordinary people's eyes, only kinder,
like the Toyman's, and these, the children said, were the kindest in
the world.
Marmaduke wished the Toyman would come back, so that he might meet
Santa, for he was a year-round Santa himself, always making things and
doing things for little boys.
But Santa was talking:
"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" he said, then he added,--"to one
and all."
At the sound of his voice the children forgot their wonder and awe,
and hurried to him and clasped his knees, and little Johnny Cricket
tried to reach for his crutches, but Santa just picked him up in his
arms and kissed him and little Hepzebiah too.
Now Father stood up.
"Mr. Santa Claus," he began, but Santy interrupted him,--
"No Mister for me," he told Father, "we're among friends. I've known
you all ever since you were born. Ho! Ho!" and he laughed, and his
laugh seemed very jolly.
"Very well," replied Father, "pardon my mistake--Friend Santy, then.
Would you be so good as to distribute the presents?"
"Deelighted!" said Santy with a bow, "Marmaduke, you hand 'em to me
and I'll read off the names."
So Marmaduke got down on his knees near the pile of presents and
picked out one. It was one of his own--not one _for_ him but one
he had bought--for Mother. He couldn't wait to see that look he knew
would come in her eyes.
She opened it. It was a nice work-basket.
"And my little boy bought it all with the pennies he saved.--I know
that," she cried in delight, and that look he had waited for shone in
her face.
Then came a big long box which Santy handed to Hepzebiah. Santy
himself helped her to tear off the wrappings; and lo and behold! it
was a great big doll with blue eyes and flaxen hair.
So back and forth the procession of presents passed,--a pipe for
Father, and one for the Toyman, who wasn't there to get it, a football
for Marmaduke, a pair of skates for Jehosophat, and oh, so many
things!
Then Marmaduke heard a whisper in his ear. He started, for the voice
sounded like the Toyman's, but it couldn't have been, for the Toyman
was still nowhere to be seen.
"Can't you find something in that heap o' things for little Johnny
Cricket?" the voice asked.
[Illustration: "Little Johnny Cricket tried to reach for his crutches,
but Santa just picked him up in his arms and kissed him."]
Marmaduke turned round, to discover Santy whispering in his ear. And he
looked hard, and, sure enough, over in the corner was a great big parcel,
marked, "Johnny with a merry Christmas." Santy undid it, and revealed a
wagon with handles that could be worked by the arms. It looked very much
like the Toyman's invention. And it was just the thing for Johnny, who
was so lame.
When he saw it he just clasped his hands, and this time the tears did
really come, and they ran from the corners of his eyes and down his
cheeks. But they were very happy tears.
"You're all so good to me," was all he said.
Marmaduke didn't need Santy to remind him now, and he hunted hard
again and found something for "Mrs. Cricket from her friends in the
White House,"--a fine alpaca dress. There was something for Black-eyed
Susan too. And all under that roof and around that tree were very
happy. It was too bad the Toyman wasn't there to enjoy it.
Now Santy stood up and looked at his watch. It was a great big one
with a ship on its face and an anchor on the chain. It resembled the
Toyman's, and the children thought it odd that there were two such
watches anywhere in the world.
"It's getting late," Santa was saying, "I've got a lot of places to
visit, but before I go, I want you to sing a song--every man Jack."
So together they sang "Peaceful Night, Holy Night," and it sounded
very sweet and pretty and made them all think of what Christmas meant,
besides just the giving and receiving of presents.
"Now the youngest ones--all together now!" and Jehosophat, Marmaduke,
Hepzebiah, and little Johnny Cricket sang, without the grownup people
this time:
"Alone in the manger,
No crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus
Lay down his soft head."
And that song sounded even prettier and sweeter than the other, with
those little voices singing it around the tree and all its candles.
When they had finished, Santa said "Goodbye," and, "Merry Christmas to
one and all," bowed, closed the door behind him, stamped his feet, and
whistled to his reindeer. Then the sleighbells sounded, growing
fainter until they faded quite away.
About ten minutes after he had gone, the Toyman appeared. It certainly
was a shame he had to just miss him like that.