_When the Curtain opens, you again see a room, but quite different
from the first one. There is a door on one side, and at the back is
a sort of tall box with closed doors in the front of it, a kind of
cupboard. On shelves at the sides of the room are some toys and
packages, and a bag, nearly full, leans against the wall. There are two
people in the room. One of them, of course, is Santa Claus, but oh, how
sick he looks. The other person is a woman, you will see, and she must
be Mrs. Santa Claus. There are two other figures that look a good deal
like people, but they are only big toys that Santa Claus and his wife
have been making, a soldier on one side, and a doll on the other._

SANTA CLAUS, _who is sitting, wrapped up in a great blanket wrapper,
and is leaning his head on his hand, while he holds a cane in the other
is saying_, What is the use of working any longer, for if I can't
carry the presents to the children, what is the good of finishing them?

But you might feel better at the last moment, _says_ MRS. SANTA
CLAUS, _who is tieing a sash on the big doll that stands beside
her._

That's true, _says_ SANTA CLAUS. Well, I believe I'll finish this
soldier, then. He's the last one I need to make, and he's all done
except to have his cheeks painted. I'll get my paint out and finish him.

_So Santa Claus rises up very stiffly and painfully, and hobbles
across the room to get his paint and paintbrush. Then he sits down again
in front of the big toy soldier, and paints both its cheeks a fine
bright red. Just as he is finishing, there comes a knock at the
door._