“If it will please you, Silas,” she told him, “we will agree; though no one must expect much. Our intentions are tremendous, but sad to say we are hampered by conditions that tie our hands. But even a little gift may carry worlds of love with it.”
Dick had provided a small tree, and they all sat up late decorating it. Even old grandpop insisted on tying a few baubles to the branches, in memory of the days when he used to do the same for the children who were now gone.
Little Susie had of course been put to bed before this, for the tree was mainly intended for her delight; though the others found more or less pleasure in its decoration.
And there were five stockings hung up alongside the fireplace; Susie had insisted on fastening one borrowed from her mother, since she naively remarked that her own might be too small for what the good fairies meant to bring her, and she would not want to miss anything for lack of room.
After Dick went to his little room and retired, he lay there a long time, utterly unable to lose himself in sleep. The blow that had fallen that afternoon had given him a shock, and try as he would he could not get it out of his mind.
Lying there he could see through his open door the flickering of the firelight in the living-room beyond, where the little Christmas tree stood in all its brave finery. When the blaze came up he could even count the five stockings hanging there, each with something in it, for they had contrived to do this before separating for the night.
Dick sighed many times. He somehow was thinking of that golden prize which Mr. Holwell had offered for the best farce, and which would be awarded a few nights after Christmas. If only he had won that there were so many things he had planned to buy with the twenty-five dollars that would have made the Great Day seem so much more joyful.
Dick, lying there, suddenly became aware of the fact that some one was moving in the other room. He even half raised his head to look, and when the fire picked up a little, discovered that it was Uncle Silas.
“To be sure,” Dick told himself, “I remember now that he didn’t think to put anything in the stockings when we turned in, and he’s meaning to do that now. But the poor old chap has mighty little to spare. Still, half a dollar given in the right spirit would mean as much as a thousand times the same from a rich man.”
Dick felt enough curiosity to watch Uncle Silas. He saw the wanderer fumbling with the different stockings. He even had the assurance to pull out what they contained and glance at the small offerings. When Dick saw that he seemed to be moved by some emotion, he himself felt a little annoyed.