That boy had called her Miss Santa Claus!
If the sleigh which brought her had been drawn by reindeer, and she had carried her pack on her back instead of in her arms, they could not have been more spellbound. They scarcely breathed for a few moments. The radiant, glowing creature took off the long red coat and gave it to the porter to hang up, then she sat down and began sorting her packages into three piles. It took some time to do this, as she had to refer constantly to a list of names on a long strip of paper, and compare them with the names on the bundles. While she was doing this, the conductor came for her ticket, and she asked several questions.
Yes, he assured her, they were due at Eastbrook in fifteen minutes, and would stop there long enough to take water.
“Then I ’ll have plenty of time to step off with these things,” she said. “And I 'm to leave some at Centerville, and some at Ridgely.”
When the conductor said something about helping Santa Claus, she answered laughingly, “Yes, Uncle thought it would be better for me to bring these breakable things instead of trusting them to the chimney route.” Then, in answer to a question which Libby did not hear, “Oh, that will be all right. Uncle telephoned all down the line and arranged to have some one meet me at each place.”
When the train stopped at Eastbrook, both the porter and conductor came to help her gather up her first pile of parcels, and people in the car stood up and craned their necks to see what she did with them. Libby and Will'm could see. They were on the side next to the station. She gave them to several people who seemed to be waiting for her. Almost immediately she was surrounded by a crowd of young men and girls, all shaking hands with her and talking at once. From the remarks which floated in through the open vestibule, it seemed that they all must have been at some party with her the night before. A chorus of good-bys and Merry Christmases followed her into the car when she had to leave them and hurry aboard. This time she came in empty-handed, and this time people looked up and smiled openly into her face, and she smiled back as if they were all friends, sharing their good times together.
At Centerville, she darted out with the second lot. Farther down, a number of people were leaving the day coaches, but no one was getting off the Pullman. She did not leave the steps, but leaned over and called to an old colored man who stood with a market-basket on his arm, “This way, Mose. Quick!”
Then Will'm and Libby heard her say: “Tell ‘Old Miss’ that Uncle Norse sent this holly. He wanted her to have it because it grew on his own place and is the finest in the country. Don't knock the berries off, and do be careful of this biggest bundle. I would n’t have it broken for anything. And—oh, yes, Mose” (this in a lower tone), “this is for you.”
What it was that passed from the little white hand into the worn brown one of the old servitor was not discovered by the interested audience inside the car, but they heard a chuckle so full of pleasure that some of them echoed it unconsciously.
“Lawd bless you, li'l’ miss, you sho’ is de flowah of de Santa Claus fambly!”
When she came in this time, a motherly old lady near the door stopped her, and smiling up at her through friendly spectacles, asked if she was going home for Christmas.
“Yes!” was the enthusiastic answer. “And you know what that means to a freshman—her first home-coming after her first term away at school. I should have been there four days ago. Our vacation began last Friday, but I stopped over for a house-party at my cousin’s. I was wild to get home, but I could n’t miss this visit, for she ’s my dearest chum as well as my cousin, and last night was her birthday. Maybe you noticed all those people who met me at Eastbrook. They were at the party.”
“That was nice,” answered the little old lady, bobbing her head. “Very nice, my dear. And now you ’ll be getting home at the most beautiful time in all the year.”
“Yes, I think so,” was the happy answer. “Christmas eve to me always means going around with Father to take presents, and I would n’t miss it for anything in the world. I 'm glad there ’s enough snow this year for us to use the sleigh. We had to take the auto last year, and it was n’t half as much fun.”
Libby and Will’'m scarcely moved after that, all the way to Ridgely. Nor did they take their eyes off of her. Mile after mile they rode, barely batting an eyelash, staring at her with unabated interest. At Ridgely, she handed off all the rest of the packages and all of the holly wreaths but two. These she hung up out of the way over her windows, then, taking out a magazine, settled herself comfortably in the end of the seat to read.
On her last trip up the aisle she had noticed the wistful, unsmiling faces of her little neighbors across the way, and she wondered why it was that the only children in the coach should be the only ones who seemed to have no share in the general joyousness. Something was wrong, she felt sure, and while she was cutting the leaves100
