"Did!" rea.s.serted Ike. "Just where I was comin" myself."
Sam turned to him with a grin.
"Was yer now? By--! Ain"t that funny? I thought of it right off."
"Sure. Same here!"
They both burst into a guffaw and executed an impromptu double-shuffle of delight. They were at the door of a tenement house with steep stairs leading into darkness. Up three flights pounded the two pairs of heavy boots, till they reached a half-open door, whence issued the clatter of a sewing-machine and the voices of children. Sam stood on the threshold grinning debonairly, with hands thrust into his pockets. Ike peered over his shoulder, also grinning.
It was a meagre room into which they gazed, a room the chief furniture of which seemed to be babies. Two little ones sprawled on the floor. A third tiny tot lay in a broken-down carriage beside the door. A pale, ill-looking woman was running the machine. On the cot bed was crumpled a fragile little fellow of about five, and a small pair of crutches lay across the foot of the bed.
When the two boys appeared in the doorway, the woman stopped her machine and the children set up a howl of pleasure. "Sammy! Ikey!" cried the woman, smiling a wan welcome, as the babies crept and toddled toward the newcomers. "Where ye come from?"
"Been to see the shops and the lights in the swell houses," answered Sammy with a grimace. "Gee! Ain"t they wastin" candles to beat the cars!"
"Enough to last a family a whole year," muttered Ike with disgust.
The woman sighed. "Maybe they ain"t wasted exactly," she said. "How I"d like to see "em! But I got to finish this job. I told the chil"ren they mustn"t expect anything this Christmas. But they are too little to know the difference anyway; all but Joe. I wish I had something for Joe."
"I got something for Joe," said Sammy unexpectedly.
The face of the pale little cripple lighted.
"What is it?" he asked eagerly. "Oh, what is it? A real Christmas present for me?"
"Naw! It ain"t a Christmas present," said Sam.
"We don"t care anything about Christmas," volunteered Ikey with a grin.
Sam looked at him with a frown of rebuke.
"It"s just a _present_," he said. "And it didn"t cost a cent. I didn"t buy it. I--we found it!"
"Found it in the street?" Joe"s eyes shone.
"Yah!" the boys nodded.
"Oh, it _is_ a Christmas present!" cried Joe. "Santa Claus must have dropped it there for me, because he knew we hadn"t any chimney in this house, and he sent you kind, kind boys to bring it to me."
The two urchins looked sideways at each other, but said nothing. Presently Sam drew out the box from his pocket and tried to thrust it into Ike"s hand. "You give it to "um," he said. "You"re the biggest."
"Naw! You give it. You found it," protested Ike.
"Ah, g"wan!"
"Big fool!"
There was a tussle, and it almost seemed as if the past unpleasantness was to be repeated from an opposite cause. But Joe"s voice settled the dispute.
"Oh, Sammy, please!" he cried. "I can"t wait another minute. Do please give it to me now!"
At these words Sam stepped forward without further argument and laid the box on the bed in front of the little cripple. The babies crowded about.
The mother left her machine and stood smiling faintly at the foot of the bed.
Joe pressed the spring. _Ping!_ Out sprang the Jack-in-the-box, with the same red nose, the same leer, the same roguish eyes which had surprised the children of fifty years ago.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _PING!_ OUT SPRANG THE JACK-IN-THE-BOX]
Jack was always sure of his audience. My! How they screamed and begged Joe to "do it again." And as for Joe, he lay back on his pillow and laughed and laughed as though he would never stop. It was the first Jack any of them had seen.
Tears stood in the mother"s eyes. "Well," she said, "it"s as good as a play to see him. Joe hasn"t laughed like that for months. You boys have done him lots of good. I wouldn"t wonder if it helped him get well! If you was Christians I"d say you showed the real Christmas spirit. But Lord--perhaps ye do, all the same! I dunno!"
Sam and Ike were so busy playing with the children that they did not hear.
Gradually the tenement house faded and became a blur before Miss Terry"s eyes. Once more she saw the mantel-shelf before her and the Christmas Angel with outstretched arms waving to and fro. "You see!" he said. "You did not guess all the pleasure that was shut up in that box with old Jack, did you?"
Miss Terry shook her head.
"And you see how different it all was from what you thought. Now let us see what became of the Canton-flannel dog."
"The Flanton Dog." Miss Terry amended the phrase under her breath. It seemed so natural to use Tom"s word.
"Yes, the Flanton Dog," the Angel smiled. "What do you think became of him?"
"I saw what became of him," said Miss Terry. "Bob Cooper threw him under an automobile, and he was crushed flatter than a pancake."
"Then you left the window," said the Angel. "In your human way you a.s.sumed that this was the end. But wait and see."
Once more the room darkened and blurred, and Miss Terry looked out upon past events as upon a busy, ever-shifting stage.
CHAPTER IX
THE DOG AGAIN
She saw the snowy street, into which, from the tip of his stick, Bob Cooper had just tossed the Flanton Dog. She saw, what she had not seen before, the woman and child on the opposite side of the street. She saw the baby stretch out wistful hands after the dog lying in the snow. Then an automobile honked past, and she felt again the thrill of horror as it ran over the poor old toy. At the same moment the child screamed, and she saw it point tearfully at the Flanton tragedy. The mother, who had seen nothing of all this, stooped and spoke to him reprovingly.
"What"s the matter, Johnnie?" she said. "Sh! Don"t make such a noise. Here we are at Mrs. Wales"s gate, and you mustn"t make a fuss. Now be a good boy and wait here till Mother comes out."
She rang the area bell and stood basket in hand, waiting to be admitted.
But Johnnie gazed at one spot in the street, with eyes full of tears, and with now and then a sob gurgling from his throat. He could not forget what he had seen.
The door opened for the mother, who disappeared inside the house, with one last command to the child: "Now be a good boy, Johnnie. I"ll be back in half a minute."