“And nobody knows what they’re going to get?”
“I should say not!” said Mrs. Darling; “although I heard Nora wishing for a red scarf a few minutes ago.”
Then the little boy set to work. There are any quantity of ways to tie up Christmas presents so that they will look as though they were full of your heart’s desire. Of course to do that you must have tissue-paper that is soft and crinkly, and red, red ribbon, besides a sprig of holly to lay across the top. The little boy had only stiff brown paper, but it did very well, for it bulged out in places where it shouldn’t have, and made the packages look a great deal more imposing than they really were.
Mrs. Darling insisted on his getting dressed after that. There was a very best suit in the closet that he had not worn for weeks, and he slipped it on, although it hung rather loosely upon him.
“Kings always have to dress up,” she explained; “that’s one of the worst things about being a king.” So the little boy submitted to having his hair brushed and his face washed, although he would a great deal rather have been left alone to finish his present.
“Of course you can’t go down into the study until the feast is ready,” she said. “You see, every one is getting dressed for it, including old Patrick himself, so as to be fit to enter the banquet-hall.”
The little boy nodded. He understood exactly how one must appear before a king, and he felt just a little sorry for Patrick and the rest. Mrs. Darling gathered up the packages.
“Nora is going to hang them on the tree,” she explained, “and when the guests have all assembled, why, then I’ll send the heralds to escort you to your court.”
After Mrs. Darling had left him, he sat still a long time, listening to the hum of voices in the lower corridor. There was an excitement in the air, something that seemed to hum and throb and thrill. Perhaps it was the sweet smell of the cranberry sauce that was wafted up to him, or perhaps it was Nora’s shrill whispering, but it was there—a great unknown something that sent the little boy’s pulses leaping.
After a while, he heard some one stamping up the stairs.