ock Elsie, looking out of the window across the
snow-covered yard, gave a squeal of delight and cried:

"Oh, here comes Mirabell, and she has her Lamb on Wheels! Oh, now we can
have fun, and I can show her my new Doll!"

"Is anybody else coming?" asked Archie. "I want to show somebody my
Stuffed Elephant."

Elsie looked again, before running to the door to welcome her little
caller.

"Yes," went on Archie's sister, "I see Joe, and he has his Nodding
Donkey!"

"That's good!" laughed Archie.

Into the house came Mirabell, who carried a Lamb on Wheels, which had
been given her as a present some time before.

"Course this isn't for Christmas," said the little girl. "I didn't bring
out my Christmas presents 'ceptin' this," and she showed on her finger
a gold ring that Santa Claus had left.

"And I got a steam engine, only I couldn't bring it over," said Joe, who
used to be lame but who was better now. "So I just brought my old
Nodding Donkey," he added. "He was in the hospital once, as I was, and
Mr. Mugg mended his broken leg."

At the mention of the name "Mr. Mugg" the Stuffed Elephant began to
listen more carefully. If he had dared he would have flapped his big
ears, but that was not allowed.

"I wonder," thought the Elephant, "if he means the same Mr. Mugg of the
toy store where I came from? I wish the children would go out of the
room a minute until I could speak to the Nodding Donkey and the Lamb on
Wheels."

But the children were having too much fun to leave the room. Mirabell
with her Lamb and Joe with his Donkey looked at the presents Santa
Claus had brought for Elsie and Archie. Then there came a ring at the
door bell, and in came a boy named Sidney, with a Calico Clown, and a
girl named Dorothy with a Sawdust Doll. These toys were not new
Christmas presents, for Dorothy and Sidney had brought only their old
toys, since it was snowing again.

The Stuffed Elephant was getting excited. He had heard these other toys
spoken of by his friends in Mr. Mugg's store, and wanted to talk to
them. But while the children were in the room he dared not say a word.

At last, however, Mrs. Dunn invited the little callers out to the dining
room to have some milk and cake, and out they rushed, leaving the toys
in the middle of the floor.

"Ah, at last we are alone!" said the Elephant. "Please tell me, Mr.
Nodding Donkey," he said, "were you ever in Mr. Mugg's store?"

"I came from there," was the answer.

"So di