They failed three years ago , before Father died , but Santa Claus came all the same . Prob ` bly you do n't remember it , twins , 'cause you were too little , but I do . Of course he 'll come , so do n't you worry a mite . And he 'll bring my skates and your dolls . He knows we 're expecting them , Theodora , 'cause we wrote him a letter last week , and threw it up the chimney . And there 'll be candy and nuts , of course , and Mother 's gone to town to buy a turkey . I tell you we 're going to have a ripping Christmas . '' `` Well , do n't use such slangy words about it , Jimmy-boy , '' sighed Theodora . She could n't bear to dampen their hopes any further , and perhaps Aunt Elizabeth might manage it if the colt sold well . But Theodora had her painful doubts , and she sighed again as she looked out of the window far down the trail that wound across the prairie , red-lighted by the declining sun of the short wintry afternoon . `` Do people always sigh like that when they get to be sixteen ? '' asked Jimmy curiously . `` You did n't sigh like that when you were only fifteen , Theodora . I wish you would n't . It makes me feel funny -- and it 's not a nice kind of funniness either . '' `` It 's a bad habit I 've got into lately , '' said Theodora , trying to laugh . `` Old folks are dull sometimes , you know , Jimmy-boy . '' `` Sixteen is awful old , is n't it ? '' said Jimmy reflectively . `` I 'll tell you what I 'm going to do when I 'm sixteen , Theodora .
I 'm going XXXXX pay off the mortgage , and buy mother a silk dress , and a piano for the twins .
'cause Claus Of about as before if into like to