`` Burned ! No , it 's ten times worse , '' gasped Alexina . `` It 's gone -- gone , Stephen . And the pudding and the mince pies , too . Oh , what shall we do ? Who can have taken them ? '' It may be stated right here and now that the Falsoms never really knew anything more about the disappearance of their Christmas dinner than they did at that moment . But the only reasonable explanation of the mystery was that a tramp had entered the kitchen and made off with the good things . The Falsom house was right at the end of the street . The narrow backyard opened on a lonely road . Across the road was a stretch of pine woods . There was no house very near except the Tracy one . Stephen reached this conclusion with a bound . He ran out to the yard gate followed by the distracted Alexina . The only person visible was a man some distance down the road . Stephen leaped over the gate and tore down the road in pursuit of him . Alexina went back to the doorstep , sat down upon it , and began to cry . She could n't help it . Her hopes were all in ruins around her . There was no dinner for Uncle James .
Josephine XXXXX saw her crying .
Alexina Falsom Falsoms James Stephen Tracy end kitchen pudding right