Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/174

 The children stood silent, watching the strange smiles which chased each other over Grandfather's lips. Now, too, they could look at October, and see what manner of person he was. He had the brown, bearded face of a man in his prime; but the hair was grizzled with gray. There was something fatherly in the eyes, which were blue and merry. His hunter's dress—of scarlet, gold, russet, crimson, and orange—was so gay that it would have seemed fantastic except for the grace with which he wore it. A spray of purple leaves nodded in his cap; a horn swung at his side, and beneath it a great pouch of fur into which he now plunged his hand.

"Do you like chestnuts?" he said, throwing a double handful into Thekla's lap. "Ah! I see you do. That's right! I always carry them about with me for the children. And I always say, 'Don't crack nuts with your teeth;' and they always do it, just the same as if I hadn't spoken, as Max is doing now."

"What is that in your bag?" asked Max,