ay, because
Christmas was so near. They talked of nothing but Santa Claus.

"Don't you wish you could _see_ him?" they said over and over.

One night, just before Christmas, Mother tucked them in bed and left
them to go to sleep. But Jack wiggled, Margaret wriggled. At last they
both sat up in bed.

"Jack," Margaret whispered, "are you asleep?"

"No," said Jack, "I can't go to sleep. Margaret, don't you wish you
could see Santa Claus? What's that?"

They both listened, and they heard a little _tap, tap_ on the window.
They looked, and there, right in the window, they saw a funny little
Brownie.

"What's that I heard you say? You want to see Santa Claus? Well, I
am one of his Brownies. I am on my way back to Santa Claus Land. I'll
take you with me if you want to go."

Jack and Margaret scrambled from their beds.

"Come on, show us the way!" they cried in great excitement.

"No, indeed," said the Brownie. "No one must know the way to Santa
Claus Land. Kindly wait a moment."

Then the Brownie took something soft and thick and dark, and tied it
around Jack's eyes. Next he took something soft and thick and dark,
and tied it around Margaret's eyes.

"How many fingers before you?" he asked.

Both of them shook their heads. They could not see a wink.

"Very well, now we're off," said the Brownie.

He took Jack's hand on one side, and Margaret's on the other. It
seemed as if they flew through the window. They went on swiftly for a
little while, then the Brownie whirled them round and round until
they were dizzy, and off they went again. The children could not tell
whether they were going north, south, east, or west. After a time they
stopped.

"Here we are," said the Brownie.

He uncovered their eyes, and the children saw that they were standing
before a big, thick gate.

The Brownie knocked and the gate was swung open. They went through it,
right into Santa Claus's garden.

It was a very queer garden. There were rows and rows of Christmas
trees, all glittering with balls and cobwebby tinsel, and instead
of flower beds there were beds of every kind of toy in the world.
Margaret at once ran over to a bed of dolls.

"Let's see if any of them are ripe," said the Brownie.

"Ripe?" said Margaret in great surprise.

"Why, of course," said the Brownie. "Now if this one is ripe it will
shut its eyes."

The Brownie picked a little doll from the bed and laid it in
Margaret's arms. Its eyes went half shut, and