The queen looked at me with delighted eyes, the dear queen! but I could not take her. I gave him the hat and the picture-book in a hurry.
"I don't want these," I said. "You know what I want. I told you up the chimney. And you promised to bring him to me. You know that you did!"
He seemed a little astonished for a moment, and then he laughed.
"Did I?" he questioned. "What chimney was that? You see I go up so many that sometimes I forget."
"What did you want, Rhoda?" Evelyn asked in surprise, putting her arms around me. "Tell Evelyn."
"I want grandmother's little boy to come home," I answered, almost crying. "The little boy who made the lilac ring. All day long she watches for him. I don't like to see poor grandmother cry!"
There were other things which I might have said, but Evelyn stopped me with a backward glance at the rows of orphans agog on their chairs, and a lady or two who had come with them watching in the background. Even Santa Claus was startled.
"A touch of tragedy," he said. "Who is this child?"
"Can't you guess?" Evelyn whispered. "What was I telling you just now!"