r out of his bed to bring against this
amazing apparition one cool, impartial forefinger of skeptic research. It
did not vanish; it resisted his touch. Then his heart fainted with
rapture, for he knew the unimagined had become history.

Standing before the windows of the great, he had gazed long at these
creations. They were suspended on a wire across the window in various
lengths, from little ones to sizes too awesome to compute. On one
occasion so long had he stood motionless, so deep the trance of his
contemplation, that the winter cold had cruelly bitten his ears and toes.
He had not supposed that these things were for mere vulgar ownership. He
had known of boys who had guns and building-blocks and rocking-horses as
well as candy in the lesser degrees; but never had he known, never had he
been able to hear of one who had owned a thing like this. Indeed, among
the boys he knew, it was believed that they were not even to be seen save
on their wire at Christmas time in the windows of the rich. One boy had
hinted that the "set" would not be broken even if a person should appear
with money enough to buy a single one. And here before him was the finest
of them all, receding neither from his gaze or his touch, one as long as
the longest of which Heaven had hitherto vouchsafed him a chilling vision
through glass; here was the same fascinating union of transcendent merit
with a playful suggestion of downright utility. And he had blurted out to
Clytie that the news of there being no Santa Claus was all over town! He
was ashamed, and the moment became for him one of chastening in which he
humbled his unbelieving spirit before this symbol of a more than earthly
goodness--a symbol in whose presence, while as yet no accident had
rendered it less than perfect, he would never cease to feel the spiritual
uplift of one who has weighed the fruits of faith and found them not
wanting.

He issued from some bottomless stupor of ecstacy to hear the door open to
Allan's shouts; then to see the opening nicely filled again by the figure
of Clytemnestra, who looked over at them with eager, shining eyes. He was
at first powerless to do more than say "Oh, Clytie!" with little impotent
pointings toward the candy cane. But the action now in order served to
restore him to a state of working sanity. There was washing and dressing
after Clytie had the fire crackling; the forgetting of some treasures to
remember others; and the conveyance of them all