Santa

Santa laughed and laid his finger aside of his nose as if thinking what to reply.

Now Santa Claus spied Polychrome, and trotted over to where she stood.

"Please do, dear Santa Claus," implored the little maid, beseechingly.

Santa Claus turned to talk with the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, and he also said a kind word to the shaggy man, and afterward went away to ride the Saw-Horse around the Emerald City.

Lucy, who wanted to see Santa Croce, suggested, as a possible solution, that they should ask the way there.

She watched the tourists; their noses were as red as their Baedekers, so cold was Santa Croce.

"Remember," he was saying, "the facts about this church of Santa Croce; how it was built by faith in the full fervour of medievalism, before any taint of the Renaissance had appeared.

George, rather to her relief, refused to move, and she and the old man wandered not unpleasantly about Santa Croce, which, though it is like a barn, has harvested many beautiful things inside its walls.