[_The_ Baron _speaks these latter words in a terribly severe tone._ Gaspard _audibly shivers as he hears them._ Eloise _recoils and seems at first quite horrified. Then suddenly, as though reminding herself that it is, after all, not Santa Claus, but only her sweetheart disguised for the purpose of deceiving her, she tosses her head and regards the_ Baron _very courageously, placing a hand, in the most saucy way, on each of her hips._]
No doubt I should be frightened half to death-- Should scream, should stagger, and should catch my breath, And thus, indeed, I really might behave-- Being not by temperament very brave-- Did I not chance to more than merely guess The shrewd impostor whom I now address.
Impostor? She discovers, then, my sham? Has she discovered also who I am?
Retire in haste, young maid, and wisely shirk To insult Kris Kringle at his goodly work!
_Eloise_ (_with sudden anger, stamping her foot, and, coming much nearer to the_ Baron).
Retire, indeed! And do you still surmise I've not the sense to pierce your thin disguise? I wonder, wicked knave that you appear, The real Kris Kringle does not find you here, And soundly punish you for this offense In due proportion to its impudence.
[Eloise _here gives a loud, mocking laugh, and abruptly tears wig from the_ Baron's _head, afterward pulling beard from his face also._]
Of me, Gaspard, I'll teach you to make sport With mask and mummery of this idle sort. I'll bid you learn if Eloise will bear Being juggled with by stratagems unfair. I'll have you know--
[Illustration: _Eloise._ AH, HEAVEN! WHAT HAVE I DONE? _Baron._ YOU'VE COUNTED ON YOUR GAME BEFORE 'TWAS WON.]
(_Discovering that it is the_ Baron, _and showing great consternation._)
You've counted on your game before 'twas won.
[Henri _and_ Lucienne _now peep forth cautiously from doors R. and L. They gaze for a moment in amazement at the_ Baron, _and then advance toward him from either side of stage._]
Papa, as I'm alive! How strange it seems!
It's like the way things happen in one's dreams.
[Gaspard, _as if thunderstruck, now quits his hiding-place, taking off hat and throwing aside his pack._]
Ah, then, Eloise, those cruel words you spoke Were all intended as a harmless joke?