The Rector's wife gave the Santa Claus a seat by her side that he might
share with the company the pleasure of the Good Will story his mistress
was next to relate; and little Lucy, too, and Charlie came and sat
near-by, for they loved their mother's stories, and could always
understand them.




XIV.

MRS. VAN BUREN'S CHRISTMAS TALE.


The most beautiful story Mrs. Van Buren had found in her search during
the year for a tale to tell her friends around the Good Will tree was
one in the German tongue. She had translated it during the summer, and
now called it by a title of her own as she told it.


RED MANTLE, THE HOUSE SPIRIT.

There was a German pedler who traveled from city to city by the name
of Berthold. He grew in wealth, and at last carried portmanteaus of
jewels of great value. He usually traveled only in the daytime, and
so as to arrive early in the evening at the town inns between the
Hartz Mountains and the Rhine.