`` One story at a time is my rule , you know . '' `` But I want to sit up till Mother comes home , '' objected Jimmy . `` You ca n't . She may be very late , for she would have to wait to see Mr. Porter . Besides , you do n't know what time Santa Claus might come -- if he comes at all . If he were to drive along and see you children up instead of being sound asleep in bed , he might go right on and never call at all . '' This argument was too much for Jimmy . `` All right , we 'll go . But we have to hang up our stockings first . Twins , get yours . '' The twins toddled off in great excitement , and brought back their Sunday stockings , which Jimmy proceeded to hang along the edge of the mantel shelf . This done , they all trooped obediently off to bed . Theodora gave another sigh , and seated herself at the window , where she could watch the moonlit prairie for Mrs. Martin 's homecoming and knit at the same time . I am afraid that you will think from all the sighing Theodora was doing that she was a very melancholy and despondent young lady . You could n't think anything more unlike the real Theodora . She was the jolliest , bravest girl of sixteen in all Saskatchewan , as her shining brown eyes and rosy , dimpled cheeks would have told you ; and her sighs were not on her own account , but simply for fear the children were going to be disappointed . She knew that they would be almost heartbroken if Santa Claus did not come , and that this would hurt the patient hardworking little mother more than all else . Five years before this , Theodora had come to live with Uncle George and Aunt Elizabeth in the little log house at Red Butte . Her own mother had just died , and Theodora had only her big brother Donald left , and Donald had Klondike fever . The Martins were poor , but they had gladly made room for their little niece , and Theodora had lived there ever since , her aunt 's right-hand girl and the beloved playmate of the children .
They had been very happy until Uncle George 's death two years before this Christmas Eve ; but XXXXX then there had been hard times in the little log house , and though Mrs. Martin and Theodora did their best , it was a woefully hard task to make both ends meet , especially this year when their crops had been poor .
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