When they heard this the Brownies shouted, ‘Hurrah! Hurrah!’ and clapped their hands. They seemed as pleased as pleased could be to hear this news of Caroline Jones. Santa Claus bent over the Book again. ‘Tom Robinson,’ read Santa Claus aloud. ‘A better boy than he was a month ago,’ said he, looking round with a smile. ‘He is polite to his grandmother, and runs errands without grumbling, and cleans his finger nails, sometimes, without being told.’ ‘Good! Good!’ shouted the Brownies. And again they clapped their tiny hands. At the next name Santa Claus looked sober and not a single Brownie smiled. ‘Johnny Smith,’ read Santa Claus, and, with a shake of the head, he dipped his pen into a bottle of black, black ink. [Illustration] ‘He still worries the cat in spite of all that has been said to him, and I hear he has been poking his mother’s canary bird with a stick.’ Santa Claus’s merry face was now very sober indeed. ‘His name must be crossed out, though I don’t like to do it.’ And with his long pen Santa Claus slowly drew a heavy black line through the name ‘Johnny Smith.’ ‘Oh! Oh!’ sighed the Brownies, shaking their heads. ‘Too bad! Too bad!’ ‘He will have nothing in his stocking next Christmas but a lump of coal,’ said one Brownie in a low voice to his neighbor. ‘And an apple with a bite in it,’ added another Brownie, looking sad. ‘But if he is a good boy between now and Christmas, you will put his name back in the Book of Good Children, won’t you, Santa Claus?’ asked several Brownies, eager to be as hopeful as they could. The Little Brown Boy did not hear Santa Claus’s answer. The Book of Good Children! So that is what it was all about! The Little Brown Boy held tightly to the window-sill and almost put his head into the room. Of course he knew what the Book of Good Children was. We all do. The Book in which Santa Claus keeps the names of all the Children whom he is to visit on Christmas Eve. What surprised the Little Brown Boy was that Santa Claus had actually crossed out a little boy’s name from his Book. Though his mother had often warned him just before Christmas that this might happen to him, he had never believed that Santa Claus would do such a thing. But now Santa Claus was reading again from his great thick Book. And at what he heard the Little Brown Boy could scarcely believe his ears. ‘Dear! Dear!’ Santa Claus was saying. ‘Here is another name that must be crossed out.’ And slowly and sadly Santa Claus read the name aloud. ‘The Little Brown Boy!’ read he. ‘Oh, no, Santa Claus!’ called out all the Brownies, their kind little faces quite wrinkled with distress. ‘Don’t cross out his name to-night. Give him another chance. Perhaps he will learn to pick up his toys. Don’t cross off his name to-night.’