Oh, Santa Claus, cries GERTRUDE, you were the dearest, funniest
little boy I ever saw. It just made me laugh to look at you.

Hush! says SANTA CLAUS, looking cautiously over his shoulder, I
hope you won't let any one know how foolish I looked and acted. What
would people say, if they heard that a man hundreds of years old like
me, has been romping around that way?

Why, Santa Claus, says WALTER, everybody would think it was fine.

Do you think so? asks SANTA CLAUS, looking around from one to the
other.

Of course, they would, answers FATHER. The fact is they'd love you
all the more for it, if that's possible.

Dear Santa Claus, you don't mind my laughing at you, do you? says
GERTRUDE; because you were funny, you know.

Well--no--I guess I don't mind much, SANTA CLAUS answers. In fact,
the more I think of it, the more I think myself that it was funny. Ho!
Ho! Ho! Only so high (he measures the height with his hand) and as
fat as butter. Ho! Ho! Ho! He goes off into a roar of laughter, and
everybody else begins laughing, and they laugh more and more, until
they have to lean up against the wall and the table, and wipe their
eyes.

When the laughing has stopped, SANTA CLAUS says, There's only one
person I don't believe I can quite forgive, and that's the sly puss of