Ethel Calvert Phillips

“ Once, too, Maman actually stepped out of her golden cage for a moment and waved her hand and blew a kiss as she watched Anne Marie run up and down the street.
By-and-by it stopped snowing, and then Polly Perkins came out for a ride. Snugly wrapped in the pink-and-blue tufted coverlet she rode smilingly up and down, lying flat on the sled, staring up at the sky, and enjoying it all without any doubt.
Anne Marie enjoyed it too. She grew so bold that she could run and slide with the sled, run and slide again. It was great fun. ”

“ She had no one with whom to talk.
Over in a corner of the room, her knitting in her lap, Anne Marie’s grandmother, called Grand’mère, napped and woke and napped again. On the mantel-shelf the white marble clock, upon which rode a bright gilt horse and horseman who went nowhere, Anne Marie knew, ticked, ticked, ticked solemnly in the quiet room.
Downstairs in the Bakery, which was owned by Anne Marie’s father, sat Anne Marie’s mother in a gay little golden cage from which she gave change to the customers who filed past her with packages of rolls or cakes or pastries or tarts in their arms. ”

“ Polly knew it was raining, raining hard, for she could hear the steady patter of the raindrops on the automobile roof and the splash of the wheels through the puddles in the street.
Up and down, in and out the city streets they rattled. Over the noisy paving-stones they rolled with many a bump and jolt. Round the corners they whirled with a dash.
The ride seemed long to Polly.
‘Where does Patty live? Will I never reach home?’ wondered Polly.
Faster and faster rolled the automobile, harder and harder pelted the rain.
[37] Then Polly felt the packages under her slipping. ”

“ Anne Marie liked the counters piled high with trays of crisp brown rolls, long loaves of bread, muffins and buns. She liked the cases filled with golden and dark and snow-white cakes, with flaky pastries and tarts. Best of all she liked to watch the people coming and going, ladies and gentlemen, little boys and girls.
But that afternoon Maman had shaken her head when Anne Marie had begged to stay with her in the Bakery.
‘The shop is not so good a place for a little girl as is the home,’ Maman had said, kissing Anne Marie and smoothing back her curls. ”

“ So Polly must have seen Santa Claus, for certainly Ailie’s stocking was filled when she woke in the morning, and who, may I ask, [106] filled the stocking unless Santa Claus himself had been there?
Polly, too, through the window, must have watched the moon sail slowly past in the Christmas sky. She must have seen the stars twinkle and burn and then grow pale as little by little the light grew stronger and at last morning came. No doubt Polly saw the great gray snow-clouds spread and spread until the whole sky was covered over and the first frosty flakes came softly fluttering down. ”

“ It is not surprising that Anne Marie wished to visit the kitchen. It was a warm, sweet-smelling place, with great ovens filled with goodies and white-clad, white-capped, floury bakers moving steadily about their tasks.
Yes, Papa Durant was justly proud of his kitchen. He was proud of his Bakery, too. He was proud of the great gold-and-black sign, ‘French Pastry Shop,’ that stretched over the Bakery door and directly under the window where Anne Marie now stood. ”

“ Meanwhile Patty watched, and talked, and wondered what could have become of Polly Perkins.
‘My darling Polly! She is as beautiful as a butterfly, Mother,’ said Patty, not once, nor twice, but many times. ‘You don’t know how beautiful she is. Grandmother thinks so, too. [24] That is why I named her Polly Perkins. She has a pink dress and brown curls and the prettiest brown eyes. And pockets with her name on them, Mother. Just think! ”

“ For Anne Marie longed for a playmate. She was tired of all her toys. Grand’mère was good to Anne Marie, as good as gold. She knitted for her mittens and stockings without number, and even now was at work upon a scarf for her, a scarlet scarf that matched Anne Marie’s cheeks and would make her look like a Robin Redbreast, so Papa Durant laughingly said. ”

“ Patty’s Polly wore a brown cape and hood, edged with beaver fur, and lined with a lovely [86] rose-colored silk. Anne Marie’s Polly wore a gray cape and hood, trimmed with soft black fur, and lined with a pale shade of blue, while Ailie McNabb’s Polly wore a dark blue cape and hood, edged with squirrel fur, and lined with the gayest Scotch plaid silk that Grandmother could find in all the city of New York.
At first the little girls couldn’t speak a word. They could only look and look, each one at her own Polly Perkins. ”

“ It seemed very hard that Anne Marie could not tell Maman all about her happy afternoon, nor even show to her Polly Perkins Durant.
But Christmas Eve was a busy night in the Bakery, and Maman would sit late in her little golden cage, not leaving it until Anne Marie had long been abed and asleep. Of course, their friends and patrons must have their Christmas cakes and pastries, their Christmas buns and rolls. Anne Marie would not have had it otherwise. ”

“ So it was not until after dinner and late in the afternoon that Patty was able to sit down in peace and quiet with Polly and talk over this most delightful Christmas Day.
‘Of course, Polly,’ said Patty, ‘this is the first Christmas you have ever had. You must feel like the kittens, so excited you don’t know what to do. ”

“ One day Mother went out shopping, and came home with her arms full of queer knobby bundles. Another day Grandmother went, and brought home any number of packages, large and small, that were whisked out of sight before Patty could take so much as a peep. And every night, when Father came home, Patty was shut in the dining-room until Father’s pockets were emptied and their contents hidden away. ”

“ Aunt Elspeth took off all wee Tammus’s outside wrappings, and then with a smile she tucked him under the covers, right down beside Ailie in the bed.
Now Tammus was wide awake and he didn’t mean to lie still a moment longer. His fat little legs waved to and fro, his short arms struck out right and left, and with a mighty thump Tammus turned himself over and began to crawl up on his Cousin Ailie’s head. ”

“ Very carefully Patty placed her pinafore in Grandmother’s trunk, and ran to fetch Polly Perkins to show her to Aunt Mary.
‘Uncle Charles painted her. Did he tell you?’ asked Patty, dancing Polly up and down before Aunt Mary until the dolly’s brown curls flew. [14] ‘Isn’t she beautiful, Aunt Mary? Hasn’t she the prettiest eyes, and doesn’t her mouth look smiling? I can brush and brush her hair, too, all I like, and it curls right up again. Isn’t her dress pretty? How I wish she had pockets like my new apron! ”

“ He has no feeling! We will never speak to him again. Never, as long as we live! Squawk! Cluck! Cluck!’
Poor Twinkle’s little snub face was all twisted with worry and fear. Why had he mentioned chicken bones? How frightened he felt at these cross hens! He hoped their box was very strong and would not break.
He longed to talk to Polly about it and to tell her how he felt, but he didn’t dare speak another word. Chicken bones so good and sweet! Chicken bones that he had buried in the garden! [35] To think that they should cause him so much trouble! ”

“ She straightened Isabel’s dress and smoothed her curls over and over again. A half-dozen times she thought she heard the doorbell ring. A half-dozen times she opened the door only to find no one there.
But at last the bell did ring. It was Anne [82] Marie, her black eyes big and bright and her cheeks as red as the little scarlet frock she wore. Papa Durant had brought her, and had left in her arms a huge box which Anne Marie put into Grandmother’s hands with her very best curtsy and smile.
‘For the Party, for Noel,’ said Anne Marie. ”

“ It was a box of cakes, French Christmas cakes, covered with sugar frosting, pink and green and white, and on many of them appeared the words ‘Joyeux Noel,’ which was Anne Marie’s French way of saying ‘Merry Christmas.’
Then in came wee Ailie McNabb, warmly dressed not only in a blue coat that Patty had outgrown, but also in a neat little frock that had once belonged to Patty, it is true, but that fitted wee Ailie McNabb as if it had been made for her. ”

“ Will you like it, do you think?’
‘Aye,’ answered Ailie, patting Aunt Elspeth’s back in her delight, ‘and when you put it on you will be prettier than Patty’s mither, for your cheeks are rosier than hers.
‘I did want four little brothers and four little sisters,’ went on Ailie, after a bit, ‘but Tammus will do just as well as all of them, I think.’
‘He will be much easier to take care of,’ agreed Aunt Elspeth. ‘And then you know Uncle Rob is going to buy a farm, and you and Granny are coming to live with us there. We will have hens and chickens and ducks, and a pig, and a cow, and horses, too. ”

“ She liked the muddy and almost empty roads, with only now and then a procession of ducks waddling along, or a lonely dog trotting by, or a farmer driving into town with perhaps a colt tied at the back of his cart. ”

“ The dog thought it was fun, too, to run after the sled. He ran and barked, ran and barked, and every now and then he would jump up in the air and whirl around in the snow, he felt so happy and gay.
[55] He didn’t dream for a moment that Anne Marie was afraid of him, but she was. She ran so fast up the street and even round the corner to get away from the dog that the sled swung from side to side. ”

“ Yes, actually three Polly Perkinses, looking exactly alike, with gentle brown eyes and pretty pink cheeks and glossy brown curls. And each Polly Perkins wore a sweet, sweet smile. There were the three pink dresses, the three pair of neat brown slippers, too.
It was simply too good to be true. But it was true. Oh, yes, indeed, it was.
Down on the floor before one Polly Perkins went Patty King, down went Anne Marie Durant before another, and last of all down [85] went Ailie McNabb before the third Polly Perkins sitting under the Tree. ”

“ Wow! Wow!’
‘Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!’ answered the sympathetic hens. ‘Too bad! Too bad! Too bad!’
‘I wish I could talk to him,’ said Polly to herself. ‘I am going to try.’
So in her politest voice she called out, ‘Twinkle, I am in this box and my name is Polly Perkins. I belong to a little girl named Patty, and I want to talk to you. How did Jimmy break his leg?’
‘On roller skates. Bow-wow!’ answered Twinkle, as though it were the most natural [31] thing in the world to be talking to a dolly wrapped up in a box. ”

“ On one of these two streets, in her large white apartment house, lived Patty. On the other of these streets, at the tiptop of her tall, tall building, lived wee Ailie McNabb.
Well, Mother and Patty and Anne Marie went straight to the Bakery, and there it was discovered that Maman knew Mrs. King very well. Had not Mrs. King for years bought her rolls and bread, her cakes and tarts, at the ‘French Pastry Shop’? Out of the golden cage stepped Maman. Papa Durant was sent for and hastily came up from the kitchen, bowing [75] and smiling and rubbing his hands as he always did when very well pleased. ”

“ McNabb,’ said Grandmother, placing a chair close by Granny’s side, ‘for Ailie tells me it will cure your cough as quick as a wink.’
By the time Grandmother had finished her talk and was ready to go, she and Granny McNabb had become good friends.
‘You must let me look after you a bit until Aunt Elspeth’s ship comes in,’ said Grandmother, as she was leaving. ‘We live only around the corner and are neighbors, you know. At least we would be neighbors if we were out in the country, where I live most of the year. ”

“ There you may choose for yourself any toy that you wish. Any toy, I say. Now run for your hat and coat. Do not keep me waiting, Anne Marie.’
Last night Papa Durant had gone to a wedding. [52] Not as one of the guests, oh, no! Far better than that. Papa Durant had baked the cakes for the wedding, all the little fancy cakes that were to be eaten with ice-cream, and also the great white wedding cake that held the place of honor in the very center of the table, with a tiny bride and groom standing arm in arm on top. ”

“ Anne Marie was glad of a chance to speak.
‘I am Anne Marie Durant,’ said she, making a polite little curtsy to Grandmother as Maman had taught her to do, ‘and my papa owns the [71] Bakery down there on the corner. “French Pastry Shop” the sign says over the door. And one rainy day I was looking from the window. We live just over the shop, you know, Papa and Maman and Grand’mère and I. And I saw a box fall from a wagon. No one came for the box, there it lay in the rain, so I ran down and picked it up, and in the box was Polly Perkins. We could not find to whom the box belonged. ”

“ Johns disappeared beneath the counter.
Patty could hear him pulling and tumbling boxes about, and at last up came Mr. Johns from under the counter with his face very red, indeed, and a smudge of dust on his cheek, but holding in his hand a little brown curly wig.
‘Will that do?’ asked Mr. Johns, smiling proudly at his surprised customers. ‘I knew I had a little wig somewhere, if only I could put my hand on it. ”

“ He is watching for me, I do believe.’
[21] Thomas was the hall boy, and a good friend to Patty, too.
‘And there is Mother in the window. Mother! Mother!’
Patty pounded on the window of the cab and called and waved. The moment the cab stopped, without waiting for Father’s umbrella, across the sidewalk went Patty with a skip and a jump, up the steps, and into the hall where she flung both arms about Mother’s neck.
‘I knew you would come down to meet me,’ said Patty, giving Mother the tightest squeeze she could and smiling broadly at Thomas over Mother’s shoulder. ‘I have come home, Thomas. ”