| "As if we’d touch his money,"
the villagers said angrily. "He’s a nasty old
man. Why I’ll bet he won’t even let her put out
a stocking on Christmas Eve." "That’s a safe bet," laughed Nicholas, "he wouldn’t open the front door even to let in something that was free!" The crowd broke up and Nicholas went back to his work but over the following months he often thought of lonely little Kathy. He saw her several times and she told him she wouldn't be allowed to hang out her stocking at Christmas. The last time he visited her, old Dinsler shook his stick at him and told him to keep away from his house. After that, Kathy wasn’t seen again but Nicholas still made a few toys for her and packed them away, just in case. A few days before Christmas, Nicholas took a walk around the big boarded up house. He looked up at the covered doors and windows and his eyes brightened as he noticed the huge stone chimney on the roof. He chuckled to himself, "I’ll try it! I might get stuck but it’s worth the try." Christmas Eve was dark and moonless with the wind whistling through the streets and the light snow stung Nicholas’s face and covered the sleigh and reindeer with a shining coat of ice. "Come on," he encouraged the reindeer, "Only the house on the hill left." He shivered in his red coat and must have looked like a giant snowman with the snow forming icicles on his white beard. He tied the reindeer to the front gate, took his sack from the back of the sleigh and climbed from his high seat to the top bar of the fence and jumped into the yard. He stopped to listen page 28 |
12a |
On the
day the suit was finished and the last loving stitch
placed in the soft rabbit trimming, Nicholas arrived to
try it on. He went into the widow’s little changing
room and came out a few minutes later - and what a
picture he made. "I can’t see myself Mrs. Arpen," said Nicholas doubtfully, "because the little mirror in your room only shows part of me at a time, but it did seem to go on rather loosely," he finished tactfully, not wanting to hurt her feelings. The widow gave one look at him and burst into tears. "Oh Nicholas, I’ve spoilt your suit. I’ve ruined it. I thought you were bigger. Oh, what shall I do?" "There, there, don’t worry about it. Look at the length, that’s all right. It’s only that I’m not as fat as I should be. Why if I ate all the food the villagers sent me why, I guarantee in a few months time you wouldn’t notice it. The trousers will be fine as soon as I buy a pair of boots to tuck them into, and what a nice cap this is! See how closely it fits and how warm looking the fur band is!" So Nicholas kept his oversized red suit and soon the villagers became used to the tall figure in the bright red trousers and tunic, the close fitting stocking cap trimmed with fur and the shiny black leather belt and boots. And what do you think happened after Nicholas ate more porridge, vegetables and milk, week after week? Yes his face became full, his chest filled out and he even began to acquire - whisper it - a belly!
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