real shaggy eyebrows, an' I tell you his eyes looked fierce under 'em.
"'Too good' says I. 'Flora she ain't got anything good enough to go with it. This card-case can't be carried by a woman unless she has a handsome silk dress, and fine white kid gloves, and a sealskin sacque, and a hat with an ostrich feather,' says I.
"'Do you want me to give her all those things to go with the card-case?' says he, kind of sarcastic.
"'If you did, they'd come back quicker than you could say Jack Robinson,' says I, for I was gettin' mad myself.
"But all of a sudden he burst right out laughin'. 'Well,' says he, 'you've got horse-sense, an' that's more than I can say of most women.' Then he takes the card-case and he looks hard at it. 'Why, Mrs. Pendergrass said she'd be sure to like it!' says he. 'Said she'd got one for Herbert's mother last year. Mrs. Pendergrass buys all my Christmas presents for me. I don't make many.'
"'I shouldn't think you'd better if you can't get more sensible ones to send,' says I. I knew I was saucy, but he was kind of smilin', and I laughed when I said it, though I meant it all the same.
"'Why, weren't Herbert's all right?' says he.
"'Right?' says I. 'Do you know what he had last year?'
"'No, I don't,' says he.
"'Well, last year you sent him a silver ash-tray, and his mother a card-case, and this year he had a silver cigarette-case, and his mother a cut-glass wine-set.'
"'Well?'
"'Nothin', only Herbert never smokes, and his mother hasn't got any visitin'-cards, and she don't have much wine, I guess.'
"Hiram Snell laughed again. 'Well, I left it all to Mrs. Pendergrass,' says he. 'I never thought she had brains to spare, but then T never thought it took brains to buy Christmas presents.'
"'It does,' says I,—'brains and considerble love for the folks you are buyin' for.'
"'Christmas is tomfoolery, anyhow,' says he.
"'That's as you look at it,' says I.
"He stood eyin' me sort of gruff, and yet as if he were sort of tickled at the same time. 'Well,' says he, finally, 'you've brought this fool thing back. Now what shall I give your niece instead?'
"'I don't go round beggin' for presents,' says I.
"'How the devil am I going to get anything that she'll like any better if I don't know?' says he. 'And Mrs. Pendergrass can't help me out any. You've got to say something.'
"'I sha'n't,' says I, real set. 'You ain't no call to give my niece anything, anyway; you ain't no call to give her anything she wants, and you certainly ain't no call to give her anything she don't want.'
"'You don't believe in keepin' presents you don't want?'
"'No,' says I, 'I don't—and thankin' folks for 'em as if you liked 'em. It's hypocrisy.'
"He kind of grunted, and laughed again.
"'It don't make any odds about Flora,' says I; 'and as for your nephew and your sister, you know about them and what they want as well as I do, or you'd ought to. I ain't goin' to tell you.'
"'So Maria hasn't got any cards, and Herbert don't smoke,' says he, and he grinned as if it was awful funny.
"Well, I thought it was time for me to be goin', and jest then Mrs. Pendergrass came in with a lighted lamp. It had darkened all of a sudden, and I could hear the sleet on the window, and there I had three miles to drive.
"So I started, and Hiram Snell he followed me to the door. He seemed sort of anxious about my goin' out in the storm, and come out himself through all the snow, and unhitched my horse and held him till I got nicely tuckod in the sleigh. Then jest as I gathered up the reins, he says, speakin' up loud against the wind,
"'When is Herbert and your niece goin' to get married?'
"'When Herbert gets enough money to buy a piece of land and some stock and start a milk route,' says I. Then off I goes."
Sophia paused for a climax. Her guests were listening, breathless.
"Well, what did he give Herbert?" asked Mrs. Cutting.
