"Oh, what a good St. Nicholas!" said Kit and Kat. "Tell us another."
"Well," said Grandmother Winkle, "once upon another time there was a very mean man, who had a great deal of money, that often happens. He had, also, three beautiful daughters, that sometimes happens too."
"One day he lost all his money. Now, he cared more for money than for anything else in the world more, even, than for his three beautiful daughters. So he made up his mind to sell them!"
"St. Nicholas knew of this wicked plan; so that very night he went to the man's house and dropped some money through a broken window."
"Why did he do that?" asked Kat.
Because the man was selling his daughters to get money. If he had money enough, he wouldn't sell them.
The first night St. Nicholas dropped enough money to pay for the eldest daughter. The next night he took a purse of gold for the second daughter, and dropped it down the chimney. It fell down right in front of the man, as he was getting a coal to light his pipe. The third night the man watched; and when St. Nicholas came, the door flew open, and the man ran out. He caught St. Nicholas by his long robe and held him.
"O St. Nicholas, Servant of the Lord," he said, "why dost thou hide thy good deeds?"
And from that time on, every one has known it is St. Nicholas who brings gifts in the night and drops them down the chimney.
"Did the man sell his daughter?" asked Kat.