r all have voted 'yes,' and so to
our dear Claus shall fall the one Mantle of Immortality that it is in
our power to bestow!"

"Let us fetch it at once," said the Fay King; "I'm in a hurry."

They bowed assent, and instantly the Forest glade was deserted. But in
a place midway between the earth and the sky was suspended a gleaming
crypt of gold and platinum, aglow with soft lights shed from the facets
of countless gems. Within a high dome hung the precious Mantle of
Immortality, and each immortal placed a hand on the hem of the splendid
Robe and said, as with one voice:

"We bestow this Mantle upon Claus, who is called the Patron Saint of
Children!"

At this the Mantle came away from its lofty crypt, and they carried it
to the house in the Laughing Valley.

The Spirit of Death was crouching very near to the bedside of Claus,
and as the immortals approached she sprang up and motioned them back
with an angry gesture. But when her eyes fell upon the Mantle they
bore she shrank away with a low moan of disappointment and quitted that
house forever.

Softly and silently the immortal Band dropped upon Claus the precious
Mantle, and it closed about him and sank into the outlines of his body
and disappeared from view. It became a part of his being, and neither
mortal nor immortal might ever take it from him.

Then the Kings and Queens who had wrought this great deed dispersed to
their various homes, and all were well contented that they had added
another immortal to their Band.

And Claus slept on, the red blood of everlasting life coursing swiftly
through his veins; and on his brow was a tiny drop of water that had
fallen from the ever-melting gown of the Queen of the Water Sprites,
and over his lips hovered a tender kiss that had been left by the sweet
Nymph Necile. For she had stolen in when the others were gone to gaze
with rapture upon the immortal form of her foster son.

2. When the World Grew Old

The next morning, when Santa Claus opened his eyes and gazed around the
familiar room, which he had feared he might never see again, he was
astonished to find his old strength renewed and to feel the red blood
of perfect health coursing through his veins. He sprang from his bed
and stood where the bright sunshine came in through his window and
flooded him with its merry, dancing rays. He did not then understand
what had happened to restore to him the vigor of youth, but in spite of
the fact that his bea