y my Bruin is become," said Rollo to Jonas. "Now I must
open him, for it is time to do my Christmas shopping. How shall I do
it, Jonas? Shall I cast him on the stone pavement and so burst him?"

"Ho ho," laughed Jonas. "That would be a pretty way indeed! But wait a
moment."

Then, repairing to another chamber, Jonas soon returned with a small
screw-driver from Rollo's mother's sewing-machine. With this he set to
work so diligently that there was soon a sharp snap, and Rollo saw
that the shaft of the screw-driver had broken off.

"Oh, bother!" cried Jonas crossly, at the same time rapping the bank
against the steam radiator with such force that Bruin was split
clearly in two from head to tail.

"Thank you! Thank you, Jonas," shouted Rollo. "How wonderful it must
be to be as handy with tools as you are! But now I must go a-shopping,
for it is not yet nine o'clock, and the signs all ask us to do our
Christmas shopping early."

On the threshold Rollo met his father, who said cheerfully,
"Good-morning, Rollo. And whither are you going so fast?"

"Good-morning to you, sir," said Rollo, touching his cap politely. "I
am about to do my Christmas shopping, sir, and you may believe me, I
have a great list. There is Mother, and you, sir, and Lucy and Jonas
and Uncle George and Cousin Stella."

Rollo's father waited patiently until Rollo had finished speaking
before he said, "Rollo, I think I ought to tell you that there are to
be no family presents in our household this year. The grain business
is most distressing just now, and we can ill afford to waste our funds
on such wicked luxuries as presents. Let us wish each other a Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year in a suitable and inexpensive manner."

[Illustration: "Everything within was very grand and gloomy"]

"I heartily agree with you, sir," said Rollo, with a cheerfulness
which pleased his father.

Now the real reason for Rollo's happy acquiescence in his father's
plan was that there was one name on his list which he had not
mentioned.

Anabelle--for it was indeed she--was a charming girl of about Rollo's
own age, whom he had met on several occasions, and of whom he had
thought more than ever since their last meeting at the great football
contest between the academies of Yale and Princeton.

"Hurrah!" shouted Rollo to himself as he hurried toward Fifth Avenue,
which is the Main Street of New York City. "Hurrah! I can now spend my
entire dollar on Anabelle."

T