The Project Gutenberg EBook of Santa Claus's Partner, by Thomas Nelson Page

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Title: Santa Claus's Partner

Author: Thomas Nelson Page

Release Date: January 6, 2005 [EBook #14624]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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SANTA CLAUS'S
PARTNER

BY

THOMAS NELSON PAGE

ILLUSTRATED BY W. GLACKENS

[Illustration]

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1899

_Copyright, 1899, by Charles Scribner's Sons_

TO MY FATHER

_who among all the men the writer knew in his youth was the most
familiar with books; and who of all the men the writer has ever known
has exemplified best the virtue of open-handedness, this little Book is
affectionately inscribed by his son_,

THE AUTHOR

ILLUSTRATIONS

FROM DRAWINGS IN COLOR BY W. GLACKENS

_Vignette._
_"Guess who it is?" she cried._
_Livingstone had to dodge for his life._
_Half a dozen young bodies flung themselves upon him._
_He took the shopkeeper aside and had a little talk with him._
_The little form snuggled against him closer and closer._
_And James with sparkling eyes rolled back the folding doors._
_Standing in the Christmas evening light
in a long avenue under swaying boughs._

SANTA CLAUS'S PARTNER

CHAPTER I

Berryman Livingstone was a successful man, a very successful man, and as
he sat in his cushioned chair in his inner private office (in the best
office-building in the city) on a particularly snowy evening in
December, he looked it every inch. It spoke in every line of his
clean-cut, self-contained face, with its straight, thin nose, closely
drawn mouth, strong chin and clear gray eyes; in every movement of his
erect, trim, well-groomed figure; in every detail of his faultless
attire; in every tone of his assured, assertive, incisive speech. As
some one said of him, he always looked as if he had just been ironed.

He used to be spoken of as "a man of parts;" now he was spoken of as "a
man of wealth--a capitalist."

Not that he was as successful as he intended to be; but the