"A commission, perhaps," I said humorously.
"It is a commission!" he cried excitedly. "To go to the Front and deliver Christmas presents to the troops! They've got hundreds of thousands all ready for them!"
"And given in what spirit?" I smiled.
"Ah, my boy! No doubt about the spirit of that." He slung his sack on to his shoulder and faced me—his old jolly self again. "This will be something like. I suppose I shall have the reindeer again for this. Did I ever tell you the joke—ah! so I did, so I did. Well, good night to you."
He hurried out of the room chuckling to himself. I sat down in front of the fire again, but in a moment he was back.
"Just thought of something very funny," he said, "Simply had to come back and tell you. The troops—hee-hee-hee—won't have any stockings to hang up, so—ha-ha-ha—they'll have to hang up their puttees! Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"
He passed through the door again, and his laughter came rolling down the passage.
A. A. M.