The spectator., 1919-12-12


 nonsense Hilda answered. If you knew the trouble have with her. Mrs Holmes, you wouldn't be asking me to put any new ideas into her head. She is contented with her dolls and is satisfied. and my work takes up every minute of my time
 And you don't do your work. cried the Scotch woman. There's better and more natural work at your hand for you to do. and you leave 1t to others"
 What do you mean by that?"
 T mean Eunice. said Mrs. Holmes defiantly. and wiped her hands on her apron and stalked away. leaving Hilda Groves indignant and resentful.
 Mrs. Holmes had put her little charge to bed on Christmas eve and later stole on tiptoe to the door. Eunice was lying with her face to the wall. her head resting upon her arm. The good woman looked wist- fully at her. and at the little stockings which hung from the head of the
 
 her own.
 She was going to fill them to over flowing with a certain store of good things that she had purchased and hidden away in the linen closet among the sheets and pillow-cases. She had candies and oranges. and firecrackers that snapped disconcertingly. contain ing foolscaps and notices and paper ornaments within their fat and crink- ling bodies: a jack-in-the-box too. and a doll. just large enough 10 be cunningly concealed inside stock ing Mrs. Holmes watched the child Her sleep did not seem sound. for once or twice she stirred. and the good landlady had that morbid ter TOT of discovery which real Santa always feels,
 "Ill wait till Mir. Cunningham has come in and then I'll do it she re- solved Mir Cunningham. the last of her boarders to come home. was al ways punctual upon the stroke of eleven Eunice would then be sound asleep no doubt
 But Eunice had not slept at all With childs deliberate craft she had deceived the good-natured land lady She waited till she heard Mrs Holmes go into her room and then she rose up ever so softly and pulled on the empty stockings, dressed her. self and crept into the hall She listened in terror at Mrs Holmes door. She was reading aloud. as she did ot an evening, and the solitary voice was terrifying Not much less so was the regular breathing of Mrs. Bennett next door. the mddle-aged woman who always insisted on stop ping and speaking no matter how busy Eunice might happen to be The floor creaked, and once Mrs Holmes stopped reading and sat up in her chair Eunice shrank into the recess l between the hall curtain and the um- brella stand Then all was right again and Mrs. Holmes voice droned on. The child opened the hall door and fled out into the December blasts. She had gone to find Santa Claus for she knew that he would not come to her
 The theater was only three blocks away, and Eunice could see the dis tant glitter of lights as soon as she was in the street The road was full of vehicles, and pedestrians vert hur- rying along the sidewalks but no. body moested her or was curious about the little. thinly clad girl that slipped among the crowds dodgns here and there until she reached the corner of the third block Then Eunice halted before the rush of au- tomobiles that whizzed past her in never ending line and big police. man took her by the arm.
 Where are you going. little girl?' he asked gruffy.
 "Thanta Clauth," said Eunice. point. ing toward the theater lights.
 Do you belong to the theater?" asked the policeman dubiously Where is your Mamma?"
 "Over there." said Eunice. and the policeman carried her across the street, while the automobiles parked upon either hand on wave of his lordly fingers He set her down al the stage entrance
 Anybody lost a baby7" he asked