He was restless until
Jean was brought to him. He had a feeling that she had saved him from
Hilda. He wanted her where he could see her. "Don't leave me," he
begged.
She slipped away to eat her Christmas dinner with Derry and Emily and
Margaret. It was an early dinner on account of the children. They ate
in the big dining room, and after dinner there was a tree, with Ulrich
Stoelle playing Father Christmas. It had come about quite naturally
that he should be asked. It had been unthinkable that Derry could
enter into the spirit of it, so Emily had ventured to suggest Ulrich.
"He will make an ideal Santa Claus."
But it developed that he was not to be Santa Claus at all. He was to
be Father Christmas, with a wreath of mistletoe instead of a red cap.
Teddy was intensely curious about the change. "But why isn't he Santa
Claus?" he asked.
"Well, Santa Claus was--made in Germany."
"Oh!"
"But now he has joined the Allies and changed his name."
"Oh!"
"And he wears mistletoe, because mistletoe is the Christmas bush, and
red caps don't really mean anything, do they?"
"No, but Mother--"
"Yes?"
"If Santa Claus has joined the Allies what will the little German
children do?"
_What indeed_?
Jean had trimmed a little tree for the General, and the children
carried it up to him carefully and sang a carol--having first arranged
on his table, under the lamp, the purple camels, to create an
atmosphere.
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