MICHAEL
So that’s the treasury, is it?  Loot?  More loot? 
What is it?  The family stocking?

[ARRAM enters with the bowl and sets it down.  Then goes to the table and begins eating.]

NANKO
O, no! no! 
The stocking is in the chimney-corner, see!
[He shakes the empty stocking that hangs in the fireplace.]
All ready for Santa Claus.  It’s a new custom. 
They do it in Germany.  The children, there,
Believe that Santa Claus comes down the chimney. 
The doctor studied in Germany, you know.

MICHAEL
O, ho!  So that’s the trouble!  A little girl,
Rada, a little girl?  Well, Santa Claus
Must wash his hands.  We mustn’t frighten her.

RADA
It is my little girl.  She’s twelve years old. 
Don’t wake her.  She has slept all through this night. 
Help me to save her.  I’ll do anything for you,
Anything!  Only help me to get her away
Safely.  I’ll pray for you every night of my life. 
I’ll-----

[The door opens behind her, and SUBKA, in her night-dress, steals into the room.]

SUBKA
Ah, I knew it couldn’t be Santa Claus.

ARRAM
What?  Don’t you know me?  I came down the chimney.

SUBKA
I don’t see any soot upon your face.
[She goes nearer.]
Nor on your clothes.  That’s red paint, isn’t it?

ARRAM
Can’t help it.  Santa Claus—­that is my name. 
What’s yours?

SUBKA
Mine?  Subka!

ARRAM
  I’ve a little girl
At home called Subka!  Just about your age.

SUBKA
You didn’t come down the chimney.
[To MICHAEL.]
He didn’t, did he?
[She runs to the stocking and examines it.]
There’s nothing in the stocking.

ARRAM
Ah, Subka,
That remains to be seen; that remains to be seen.

SUBKA
[Pointing to MICHAEL.]
Well, who is that?

ARRAM
The man that carries my bag.

SUBKA
[With a sudden note of fear in her voice.]
Mother, where’s Father?

RADA
[Putting her arm round her.]
He will soon be here. 
It’s all right, darling.

SUBKA
Has the gramophone come?

RADA
Yes, darling, long ago.

SUBKA
You never told me.

NANKO
That was a secret, Subka, a great secret.

SUBKA
I thought, perhaps, you were getting the Christmas tree ready. 
Can’t we?  Father won’t mind.

NANKO
[Putting the Christmas tree out from the corner.]
Ah, here it is. 
Now that’s a good idea.  It’s Christmas Eve. 
We’ll get it ready.

ARRAM
Here, put it on the table.

NANKO
What shall we hang on it?

MICHAEL
What do you think
Of that, now?
[He hangs a revolver on the tree.]

SUBKA
[Clapping her hands.]
O!  O!  What a great big pistol! 
That’ll be Father’s present!  And now what else? 
What else?