o him that he was buying
presents for only a boy, a bachelor, and a middle-aged spinster.
Manifestly a string of beads would not do for Jimmy or Uncle Harold, so
they must do for Aunt Harriet. He had meant to buy bed-slippers for
her, but, perhaps, after all, she would prefer beads. At all events,
he had bought them, and they would have to go. And with that he
dismissed the beads.

As yet he had nothing for Uncle Harold. There seemed to be nothing,
really, that he could make up his mind to give. The more he searched,
the more undecided he grew. The affair of the pipe had frightened him,
and had sown distrust in his heart. He would have to buy something
this evening, of course, for it must be sent to-morrow. He would
telephone Edith that he could not be home for dinner--that business
detained him; then he would eat a hasty luncheon and buy Uncle Harold's
present. And with this decision Jasper wearily turned his steps toward
a telephone booth.

Jasper Hawkins went home at ten o'clock. He still had nothing for
Uncle Harold. The stores had closed before he could find anything.
But there was yet until noon the next day.

Mrs. Hawkins did not question her husband. In the morning she only
reminded him timidly.

"You know those things must get off by twelve o'clock, Jasper."

"Oh, yes, they'll go all right," her husband had replied, in a
particularly cheery voice. Jasper was not cheery, however, within. He
was nervous and anxious. A terrible fear had clutched his heart: what
if he could not--but then, he must find something, he enjoined himself.
And with that he started downtown at once.

He did not go to the office this time, but sought the stores
immediately. He found conditions now even worse than before. Every
one seemed to have an Uncle Harold for whom was frenziedly being sought
the unattainable. If at nine o'clock Jasper had been nervous, at ten
he was terrified, and at eleven he was nearly frantic. All power of
decision seemed to have left him, and he stumbled vaguely on and on,
scarcely knowing what he was doing. It was then that his eye fell on a
huge sign:

"Just the thing for Christmas! When in doubt, buy me!"

There was a crowd before the sign, but Jasper knew now how to use his
elbows. Once at his goal he stared in amazement. Then the tension
snapped, and he laughed outright--before him were half a dozen cages of
waltzing mice.

For a long time the curious whirls and antics of th