said, "Good-evening, Mrs. Todd!"

"Good gracious me! Where under the canopy did you hail from, Dick
Larrabee? Was your folks lookin' for you? They ain't breathed a word
to none of us."

"No, I'm a surprise, Mrs. Todd."

"Well, I know you've given me one! Will you wait a spell till the
recitations is over? You'd scare the children so, if you go in now,
that they'd forget their pieces more'n they gen'ally do."

"I can endure the loss of the 'pieces,'" said Dick with a twinkle in
his eye.

At which Mrs. Todd laughed comprehendingly, and said: "Isaac'll get a
stool or a box or something; there ain't a vacant seat in the church.
I wish we could say the same o' Sundays!--Isaac! Isaac! Come out and
see who's here," she called under her breath. "He won't be long. He's
tendin' John Trimble in the dressin'-room. He was the only one in the
village that was willin' to be Santa Claus an' he wa'n't over-willin'.
Now he's et something for supper that disagrees with him awfully and
he's all doubled up with colic. We can't have the tree till the
exercises is over, but that won't be mor'n fifteen minutes, so I sent
Isaac home to make a mustard plaster. He's puttin' it on John now.
John's dreadful solemn and unamusin' when he's well, and I can't think
how he'll act when he's all crumpled up with stomach-ache, an' the
mustard plaster drawin' like fire."

Dick threw back his head and laughed. He had forgotten just how