But that was just it, and Little Girl felt as if she wanted to laugh and sing and be glad.  It made her remember the Sick Boy who lived next door, and she said to herself that she would carry him one of her prettiest picture-books in the morning, so that he could have something to make him happy all day.  By and by, when the bright light all around her had grown very, very much brighter, Little Girl saw a path right in front of her, all straight and trim, leading up a hill to a big, big house with ever and ever so many windows in it.  When she had gone just a bit nearer, she saw candles in every window, red and green and yellow ones, and every one burning brightly, so Little Girl knew right away that these were Christmas candles to light her on her journey, and make the way dear for her, and something told her that this was Santa’s house, and that pretty soon she would perhaps see Santa himself.

Just as she neared the steps and before she could possibly have had time to ring the bell, the door opened—­opened of itself as wide as could be—­and there stood—­not Santa himself—­don’t think it—­but a funny Little Man with slender little legs and a roly-poly stomach which shook every now and then when he laughed.  You would have known right away, just as Little Girl knew, that he was a very happy little man, and you would have guessed right away, too, that the reason he was so roly-poly was because he laughed and chuckled and smiled all the time—­for it’s only sour, cross folks who are thin and skimpy.  Quick as a wink, he pulled off his little peaked red cap, smiled the broadest kind of a smile, and said, “Merry Christmas!  Merry Christmas!  Come in!  Come in!”

So in went Little Girl, holding fast to Little Man’s hand, and when she was really inside there was the jolliest, reddest fire all glowing and snapping, and there were Little Man and all his brothers and sisters, who said their names were “Merry Christmas,” and “Good Cheer,” and ever so many other jolly-sounding things, and there were such a lot of them that Little Girl just knew she never could count them, no matter how long she tried.

All around her were bundles and boxes and piles of toys and games, and Little Girl knew that these were all ready and waiting to be loaded into Santa’s big sleigh for his reindeer to whirl them away over cloudtops and snowdrifts to the little people down below who had left their stockings all ready for him.  Pretty soon all the little Good Cheer Brothers began to hurry and bustle and carry out the bundles as fast as they could to the steps where Little Girl could hear the jingling bells and the stamping of hoofs.  So Little Girl picked up some bundles and skipped along too, for she wanted to help a bit herself—­it’s no fun whatever at Christmas unless you can help, you know—­and there in the yard stood the biggest sleigh that Little Girl had ever seen, and the reindeer were all stamping and prancing and jingling the bells on their harnesses, because they were so eager to be on their way to the Earth once more.