Christmas Card from the 1800's

Chapter 12 Part 1

Holiday Break

Eight days after Emit’s unexpected visit, Claire received a letter from him:

Dear Miss Claire Winters,

I hope that this letter finds you as well as I left you. I would hate to think that you’ve been fainting without me. I went to The City and had very little luck.
I found no occupation (which was my hope) but I did find something which may interest you:

Clifford Rueben
884 Dimitri St.
New York, New York
4581

Sincerely,
Emit Dawson

Claire screamed for Trudy and Trudy was equally excited at the news. They set to writing to him right away. Their letter was brief and cautious but sweet and mailed the very next morning with Claire’s weekly letters to Connecticut. In it they explained that neither of them would be back at school for some time, seeing as it was Christmas break, but the morning that Mr. Rueben’s letter went out, a letter for Claire came in:

Dear Claire,

I hope you’re doing well. Your last report card was so pleasing.
We are all doing well, keeping warm by the new stove your father bought us as a Christmas gift. But, I am dreadfully sad to say, that we cannot bring you home for Christmas break.
It is your father who’s against it. He says that he thinks that if you came home, you would relax and let your grades drop upon your return to school. He doesn’t think you need another distraction, so we’re signing you up for a boarding home in Beekman. That way, you’ll still feel as if you’re at school and will have less time for distractions and more time for good, concentrated studying. I am sorry dear, and I disagree, but you know how your father can be.
Make the best of it and have a merry Christmas for me!

Much love,
Your mother

The message was given to Miss Victory who, in a flurry, told Claire that she was “most likely too late.”
“I believe that all of the families who have offered to be hosts are filled up!” She said.
“But, I will check into it, Miss Winters, if you contact your parents and tell them that I need the funds…immediately.”
So Claire felt like a fish out of water as the other girls packed their things and headed to train stations. That evening, Trudy and Claire hugged and parted, feeling that this week would be a very long one indeed. The next morning, Claire felt special, being the only girl at the long family dining table for breakfast. She gazed out the window and went into a brown study until there was a tapping sound coming from the hall.
Miss Victory appeared with a slip of paper.
“You’re lucky Miss Winters,” She said. “We have a late offer from a boarding home.”
She handed Claire the piece of paper with the address.
“Miss Inches looked into it,” She said flippantly. “They seem religious and kind she says. I haven’t investigated it myself, but I approved them for your special case. They’re probably just ‘in it for the money,’ but it will have to do for today, won’t it?”
Claire nodded, humbly swallowing her porridge.
“Thank you Miss Victory.” She said.
“Hurry up Miss Winters!” Miss Inches said from the doorway. “I am going to take you as soon as you have your things together…it’s our vacation too, ya know.”

Lickety-split, Claire had her few things together. She left her room tidy turned out the light. She sat down in the buggy like an adult, she felt, all alone and independent. Soon, of course, Miss Victory was with her and they were off! At the gate, the buggy took a right, away from town, to Claire’s surprise.
“Do they live in the country?” She asked Miss Inches.
“Of course they do.” Miss Inches said, entirely uninterested in the sights blurring past her window.
Claire enjoyed the view: blue skies against brown, dry fields, frisky deer and wrens and phoebes were flitting about and crisp air blowing in through the crevices. But, after a moment, Claire began to feel nervous. What was it that was bothering her? She looked out her window again, and again she felt that odd feeling. That tree they had just passed looked strangely familiar. That field and that cliff did to, and Claire felt especially odd while looking down one little path that struck her as especially memorable, as if she had, perhaps, seen it in a book.
To her surprise, the buggy suddenly took a sharp turn and began bouncing down that very pathway! Part-way down, as the wheels crunched the gravel, they passed a dried up wheat field with a clearing made in it. At that moment, Claire realized where they were. That was the very place where she had fainted months before! Could they possibly be headed for the Dawson’s house? Surely Miss Victory wouldn’t approve of that, since she did, after all, believe that Claire had been having a scandalous rendezvous with their son. But yet, they were going in that direction, and Claire had never noticed any other houses down this path. She held her hat as they went over a steep knoll and thought about Emit, carrying her up! She blushed at the ridiculous looking picture she imagined.
She craned her head out the little window, clenching her teeth at the cold wind. After a moment, she was rolling down another hill and she could see a house with a courtyard. It was definitely the Dawson’s house, but would they stop? Indeed! The buggy slowed down and wheeled into the gateway.
Claire glanced at Miss Inches, but she wasn’t looking in her direction, only straight ahead, businesslike.
Claire wondered if Mrs. Dawson would recognize her.
“Claire?” Came a voice from outside the buggy.
The door swung open and there was Mrs. Dawson, smiling.
“Yes’m?” Was all Claire could think to say.
“Fancy that! It is you, of all girls!” Mrs. Dawson said.
Fortunately, Claire shut the buggy door before Miss Inches heard this. She walked quickly to the other side of the buggy and bid Miss Inches goodbye and happy Christmas, Miss Inches said to mind her manners and try to learn a thing or two during her break and then the buggy was out of the courtyard and wandering up the hill.
Claire stood, a bit awkwardly, and watched the buggy get smaller and smaller. Then she turned around. She saw many little faces looking at her with what could have been nothing but a healthy combination of curiosity and excitement, but one of them, the face closes to her, was grinning in a sort of knowing way.
“Emit!” Claire exclaimed. “Imagine this!”
“Yes!” He said, satisfyingly happy to see her again. “I was hoping it may be you, but I imagined you’d be in Connecticut.”
“Not this year,” Claire said briefly. “This Christmas, I am going to be a Dawson!”
She then blushed, thinking of how bold she had been, and right away too! But she was surprised by applause and many people taking her arms and opening the front door and saying:
“You look starved. Wouldn’t you like some sugarplums?”