"Now don't tell me I can give a girl less than two pieces of underwear," Lillian said.
"I seen the time when Mrs. Winters gave Helen one combination or teddy or whatever the heck you call it."
"Now you've rung Mrs. Winters in once too often on my Christmas list." Lillian looked up at him with displeasure. "What's all this about anyhow? Don't you want me to give any Christmas presents?"
"Sure, I don't care, but I think you're overdoing it. We haven't any silkworms spinning cocoons for us nor any cigarette case factory."
"Why, Hubert, I never knew you to be like this before. Don't you like the crowd any more?"
"Certainly I do. Give them presents if you want, but, hell, don't forget we've been giving them presents all year."
He walked away from her then and she could hear him in the bedroom switching on the light and looking through the closet for his slippers.
Gee, he was acting funny. It wasn't that he was stingy. A fellow just couldn't become stingy overnight. Lillian thought the matter over for a minute or two and found a solution which pleased her. Hubert was a great man. He knew when it was time to discontinue the generous hand-outs. For just so long he had been willing to play the helping hand and believed that now he had done enough. He wanted her to imply with modest gifts that he had given up the Santa Claus business. He was the kind of man who knew how and when to retreat gracefully. That took character and clear
