oire, and drew out a
long cloak of scarlet, furred with ermine. 'I had meant to wear this
myself,' he went on; but stopped all of a sudden at sight of my face,
and began to laugh quietly, in a way that made me long to take him by
the throat. 'Dear me, dear me! I understand! Association of
ideas--Court of Assize, eh? But this is no judicial robe, my friend:
it belongs to Father Christmas. Here's his wig now--quite another
sort of wig, you perceive--with a holly wreath around it. And here's
his beard, beautifully frosted with silver.' He held wig and beard
towards the window, and let the moonlight play over them. 'On with
them, quick! . . . And the boots.' Again he dived into the armoire,
and produced a pair of Bluchers, the long ankle leathers gummed over
with cotton-wool, to represent snow. 'It's lucky they reach a good
way up the leg, seeing the cloak is a trifle short for a man of your
inches.' He stepped back a pace and surveyed me as I fitted on the
beard.

'There are punishments and punishments,' said I. 'And I hope,
whatever your game may be, you will remember that there's punishment
in dressing up like a tom-fool.'

'Ah, but you'll catch the spirit of it!' he assured me: and then,
rubbing his hands, he appeared to muse for a moment. 'I ought,' said
he, with a glance towards the fireplace, 'I really ought to send
Father Christmas down by way of the chimney. The flue opens just
above here, and I believe it would accommodate you; but I am not very
sure if my housekeeper had it swept last spring. No,' he decided,
'the music has ceased, and we must lose no time. I will spare you
the chimney.'

He called to his rabbits, picked them up as they came hopping from
behind the curtains, popped them into his hat, shut it with a snap,
and lo! they had vanished.

'You'll excuse me,' I ventured, as he stepped to the door; 'but--but
the--the few articles here in the bag--'

'Oh, bring them along with you: bring them along by all means!
We may have a present or two to make, down below.'

From the head of the staircase we looked down into a hall gaily lit
with paper lanterns. Holly and ivy wreathed the broad balustrade,
and the old pictures around the walls. A bunch of mistletoe hung
from a great chandelier that sparkled with hundreds of glass prisms,
and under it a couple of footmen in gilt liveries and powder crossed
at that moment with trays of jellies and syllabubs.

They were well-trained footmen,