Her question was unanswered, but she did not notice it. “Now I really think the animals will have to come in,” she said gayly. “You can be trainer for an hour while this keeper clears up the dishes.” And with a whoop they were upon him--lion, tiger, kangaroo, and baby bear. * * * * * When the children were asleep they brought out the barrel--“our charity box,” the minister called it, half bitterly. “I can’t help it, John. It may show an impoverished state of the blood--or of the spirit, I don’t know which--but when I think of all the things these children need I am glad of this box. I _am_--‘charity’ though you call it! I am almost sorry you spent the money for candy, for of course there will be a lot of it in here. Well, they will have enough for once in their lives! And they are so starved for candy.” Again he started to speak, but she swept on in full tide of happy talk: “Before we open it I want to show you the things I already have for them. Of course they will be poor by comparison, so I’ll exhibit them first. This overcoat is Paul’s, made out of that old, old one of yours with the plaid flannel lining. I turned the fuzzy side out. He thinks it’s fine. And with a new one for Paul every overcoat in the line drops a peg and lands on the next younger--so everybody has a change! Then, from the pieces of plaid flannel left I made three good mufflers to tie over their little headies when they scud across the prairies to school.... And here are three pairs of mittens cut from the scraps of the coat. I am so proud of myself over those mittens! I had enough yarn to knit Davie’s, but----” “There isn’t one woman in a hundred that could have managed so well.” She snuggled up to him. “That pays me--if I needed pay, which I don’t. It was a work of love and--well, maybe a little necessity. You told me once that I had a genius for poverty.” “And God knows it has had no chance to lie dormant,” he said bitterly. “I don’t want it to lie dormant. I want every power I possess brought out to the utmost. I truly have enjoyed concocting these things out of nothing. There’s nothing that makes a woman feel so virtuous, unless it is getting off a lot of neglected letters.... Oh, yes, here are their handkerchiefs--lovely ones made from an old petticoat! But it will make one thing more for the stockings. Isn’t it glorious that no matter how much or how little children have at Christmas, they enjoy it just the same? That is, if they have candy. That is the one indispensable.... And here are the scrapbooks. I’ve been saving pictures all year; the blank pages are for ‘our special artist’--that’s you. I wish I had some colored crayons. Oh, they would love colored crayons! And just think!--only ten cents!” She was sorry the moment she said it, for a shadow fell upon his face.