do all the
work an' never git no new clothes--"

"Yi! Yi! Yi! Yi!" derided Specks. "Boney Middleton tol' me--Boney
Middleton tol' me. You won't have no tree or nuthin'."

"Didn't I tell ye 'bout the biscuit?" demanded Jimsy fiercely. "An'
about Stump sleepin' in the work-shop, didn't I? Hain't that enuff?
Hain't he good to boys an' dogs? I--I don't want no Christmas tree, ye
big stiff. I'm goin' to have turkey--"

But Abner Sawyer had closed the window with a bang. Although he did not
look at Aunt Judith he knew that her face was white.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

IV

THE CHAIN CLANKS

It was the day before Christmas that the Village Conscience telephoned
the Lindon Bank.

"I felt that I must call you up, Mr. Sawyer," she said firmly, "and tell
you that the boy you have with you over Christmas is going around from
door to door, ringing the bell and--_begging_!"

"Begging!"

"Perhaps I shouldn't call it _just_ that--but--well, saying 'Merry
Christmas!' rather hopefully."

Feeling rather sick, Abner Sawyer formally thanked his informer and rang
off. Glancing out of his office window he saw with a shock that instead
of Austin White, who usually drove him home at night, Jimsy and Peggy,
the old Sawyer mare, were waiting beneath a snow-ridged elm with the
sleigh. Jimsy caught his eye, smiled warmly and waved, and because
Abner Sawyer did not know what else to do, he stiffly returned the
salute and reached for his hat, irritably conscious that sufficient
sleep and food had already left their marks upon his guest. Jimsy's
cheeks above the old-fashioned tippet Aunt Judith had wound about his
throat were smooth and ruddy.

"Aunt Judith didn't want me to come," explained Jimsy, "but I tol' her
how Gink Gunnigan often let me drive his truck an' I guess I coaxed so
hard she had to.... Unc--Mister Sawyer, it--it's nearly Chris'mus eve!"

Abner Sawyer climbed in without a word. Peggy flew off with a jingle of
bells through the village, through the woods, through a Christmas eve
twilight dotted now with homely squares of light shining jewel-wise
among the snowy trees.

[Illustration]

"Jimsy!"

"Yes, sir?"

"A lady telephoned that you'd been--_begging_--from door to door."

Jimsy hung his head.

"I--I only rung some door-bells an' said 'Merry Chris'mus.'"

"You expected and received--money?"

"Y-e-e-e-e-es, sir."

"Why?"

Silence.

"Jimsy, I insist upon an explanation."

Jimsy gulped