"A Merry Christmas" - Page 20

It quite took their breath away; and they stared first at the table and then at their mother, who looked as if she enjoyed it immensely. 

“Is it fairies?” asked Amy.

“It’s Santa Claus,” said Beth.

“Mother did it;” and Meg smiled her sweetest, in spite of her gray beard and white eyebrows. 

“Aunt March had a good fit, and sent the supper,” cried Jo, with a sudden inspiration.

“All wrong; old Mr. Laurence sent it,” replied Mrs. March.¹

“The Laurence boy’s grandfather! What in the world put such a thing into his head? We don’t know him,” exclaimed Meg.

“Hannah told one of his servants about your breakfast party; he is an odd old gentleman, but that pleased him. He knew my father, years ago, and he sent me a polite note this afternoon, saying he hoped I would allow him to express his friendly feeling toward my children by sending them a few trifles in honor of the day. I could not refuse, and so you have a little feast at night to make up for the bread and milk for breakfast.”²

“That boy put it into his head, I know he did! He’s a capital fellow, and I wish we could get acquainted. He looks as if he’d like to know us; but he’s bashful, and Meg is so prim she won’t let me speak to him when we pass ³,” said Jo, as the plates went round, and the ice began to melt out of sight, with ohs! and ahs! of satisfaction.

“You mean the people who live in the big house next door, don’t you?” asked one of the girls. “My mother knows old Mr. Laurence, but says he’s very proud, and don’t like to mix with his neighbors. He keeps his grandson shut up when he isn’t riding or walking with his tutor, and makes him study dreadful hard. We invited him to our party, but he didn’t come. Mother says he’s very nice, though he never speaks to us girls.” ⁴

“Our cat ran away once, and he brought her back, and we talked over the fence, and were getting on capitally, all about cricket, and so on, when he saw Meg coming ⁵, and walked off. I mean to know him some day, for he needs fun, I’m sure he does,” said Jo, decidedly.

“I like his manners, and he looks like a little gentleman, so I’ve no objection to your knowing him if a proper opportunity comes. He brought the flowers himself, and I should have asked him in if I had been sure what was going on upstairs. He looked so wistful as he went away, hearing the frolic, and evidently having none of his own.”

“It’s a mercy you didn’t, mother,” laughed Jo, looking at her boots. “But we’ll have another play some time, that he can see. Maybe he’ll help act; wouldn’t that be jolly?”

“I never had a bouquet before; how pretty it is,” and Meg examined her flowers with great interest.

“They are lovely, but Beth’s roses are sweeter to me,” said Mrs. March, sniffing at the half dead posy in her belt. She noted the aroma, still as pungent as when fresh. Indeed, had she been standing, Mrs. March would have found herself strangely knob-kneed with the smell. She did not panic at her inability to rise, instead contenting herself to appear enthralled by the revels. Perhaps, she thought, it would be pleasant to not rise again.

Beth nestled up to her, holding close a threadbare doll that no one quite remembered her having before. She whispered softly, “I wish I could send my bunch to father. I’m afraid he isn’t having such a merry Christmas as we are.”

¹ _{Big “ha-ha, yes, he’s old, right children? Nothing like your Mother, whom is keeping it tight, wouldn’t you say?” vibes here.}

² _{The lesson here being that doing good deeds are their own reward, in addition to the many actual rewards you get for doing them.}

³ _{I imagine this played out a lot like these “Hark, A Vagrant!” panels about Ada Lovelace-}

⁴ _{He may not come to YOUR party, nameless child, but remember, the Marches are…..NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!}

⁵ _{Methinks Meg could have saved everyone a lot of inciting incidents if she had succeeded!}

That is the last page of Chapter 2! I hope you’ve enjoyed this pastoral scene, because things…may begin to get grim.

As you can see, Marmee is in the lead for the chop, with more votes for her than every other character combined. But! As per the rules, under the gun we are adding Old Mr. Laurence and the yet-to-be-”Lauried” Laurence Boy to the Death Poll.

The poll will stay open until this upcoming Thursday - then on Friday, we’ll reveal our next kill! See you then!