Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/226

 in the morning early,' said she, 'because Gretchen will be anxious.'

Oh, yes!' replied the Saint, smiling queerly, 'I'll let you out in the morning. I'm like a bat, you know, and never fly except by night.'

"Off they went, the magic stillness of the flight broken only by the tinkling bells. First one chimney, then another; bag after bag full of toys and sweets; here a doll, there a diamond ring, here only a pair of warm stockings. Everybody had something, except in a few houses over whose roofs St. Nicholas paused a moment with a look half sad, half angry, and left nothing. People lived there who knew him little, and loved him less.

"Through the air,—more towns,—more villages. Now the sea was below them, the cold, moon-lit sea. Then again land came in sight,—towers and steeples, halls and hamlets; and the work began again. A wild longing to explore seized the Cat. She begged the Saint to take her down one specially wide chimney