CHAPTER FOURTH
"Can you spare me a little money, George?" asked Mrs. Cowels, adjusting her last year's coat.
"What do you want of money?"
"Well—it's Christmas eve, and I thought we ought to have something for Bennie. He has been asking me all evening what I expected from Santa Claus, never hinting, of course, that he expected anything."
"Well, here's a dollar."
Mrs. Cowels took the money and went over to the little store.
There were so many things to choose from that she found it difficult to make a selection. Finally she paid a quarter for a tin whistle and two bunches of noise—that was for the boy. With the remaining seventy-five cents she bought a pair of gloves for her husband.
"Anybody been here to-day?" asked Cowels of his wife when she came back from the store.
"Yes, Mr. Squeesum, secretary of the Benevolent Building Association, was here to see you about the last two payments which are over-due, on the house."
"What did you tell him?"