Yet he felt no hatred in his heart for Miss Sue. He absolved her now of any blame for his unhappiness. Life Truitt was coming to his senses! Sue Ambrose was worthy of the love of the best man who ever lived! Forty thousand dollars was as nothing beside her intrinsic value as a woman and a companion for a lonely man. 'Liphalet wished with all his heart--as he had wished a thousand times before--that Sue's anti-suffragist relative had left her money elsewhere. Then no man--Cap'n Jonah, or anybody else--would have beaten him to the goal that had been so long set before him. He had enough money for them both--enough and to spare. It troubled him now, as it had before, that Sue should have accepted the forty thousand dollars as a bribe not to exercise her right of franchise. To tell the truth 'Liphalet did not think well of woman suffrage. He was satisfied that Miss Sue did not appear to hold "votes for women" in high regard. But it would have delighted him had Miss Sue walked into the polling place on election day and voted, thus throwing her legacy away. So he tramped down the Shell Road in a gloomy frame of mind indeed on this Christmas Eve; and upon entering into the warmth and light and bustle of Cap'n Abe's store was as much in the doldrums as ever. The greetings showered upon him from those present, men and women alike, were heartier than usual. Why! it seemed just as though they were waiting for 'Liphalet's appearance. "Just for what they hope to get out of you," the devil of distrust again whispered in his ear. But for some reason this wicked voice was not so strong as before. 'Liphalet had begun to doubt. Since his adventure with Miss Sue on the cliff he had lost much of that pessimism that had for so long held sway in his mind. The cheerful smiles, the hearty greetings one to another as the neighbors entered, began to impress more deeply the apostate Santa Claus. Retiring to an upturned nail keg behind the stove, 'Liphalet tried again to wrap himself in gloom. He felt meaner than he had ever felt before in all his life. Here was more than half the congregation of the Mariner's Chapel gathered in the Shell Road store. Every one had a pleasant word or smile for him. They sought the ex-steward out to show their friendliness. They had been looking to him for generous assistance in the yearly entertainment now but twenty-four hours off, and he had determined to disappoint and to flout them. The apostate Santa Claus began to feel remorse and misgiving, such as had never been his portion before. He felt he had never done as mean a thing in all his career as he was doing now. Aside from the disappointment of the grown members of the congregation, how would the children feel? 'Liphalet Truitt, in padded and cottonwool trimmed garments, was always a delight to the children at the Christmas tree celebration. His unfailing pack and his appropriate words for each child were looked forward to for months.