Christmas at Red Butte

       Table of Contents

      “Of course Santa Claus will come,” said Jimmy Martin confidently. Jimmy was ten, and at ten it is easy to be confident. “Why, he’s got to come because it is Christmas Eve, and he always has come. You know that, twins.”

      Yes, the twins knew it and, cheered by Jimmy’s superior wisdom, their doubts passed away. There had been one terrible moment when Theodora had sighed and told them they mustn’t be too much disappointed if Santa Claus did not come this year because the crops had been poor, and he mightn’t have had enough presents to go around.

      “That doesn’t make any difference to Santa Claus,” scoffed Jimmy. “You know as well as I do, Theodora Prentice, that Santa Claus is rich whether the crops fail or not. They failed three years ago, before Father died, but Santa Claus came all the same. Prob’bly you don’t remember it, twins, ‘cause you were too little, but I do. Of course he’ll come, so don’t you worry a mite. And he’ll bring my skates and your dolls. He knows we’re expecting them, Theodora, ‘cause we wrote him a letter last week, and threw it up the chimney. And there’ll be candy and nuts, of course, and Mother’s gone to town to buy a turkey. I tell you we’re going to have a ripping Christmas.”

      “Well, don’t use such slangy words about it, Jimmy-boy,” sighed Theodora. She couldn’t bear to dampen their hopes any further, and perhaps Aunt Elizabeth might manage it if the colt sold well. But Theodora had her painful doubts, and she sighed again as she looked out of the window far down the trail that wound across the prairie, red-lighted by the declining sun of the short wintry afternoon.

      “Do people always sigh like that when they get to be sixteen?” asked Jimmy curiously. “You didn’t sigh like that when you were only fifteen, Theodora. I wish you wouldn’t. It makes me feel funny — and it’s not a nice kind of funniness either.”

      “It’s a bad habit I’ve got into lately,” said Theodora, trying to laugh. “Old folks are dull sometimes, you know, Jimmy-boy.”

      “Sixteen is awful old, isn’t it?” said Jimmy reflectively. “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do when I’m sixteen, Theodora. I’m going to pay off the mortgage, and buy mother a silk dress, and a piano for the twins. Won’t that be elegant? I’ll be able to do that ‘cause I’m a man. Of course if I was only a girl I couldn’t.”

      “I hope you’ll be a good kind brave man and a real help to your mother,” said Theodora softly, sitting down before the cosy fire and lifting the fat little twins into her lap.

      “Oh, I’ll be good to her, never you fear,” assured Jimmy, squatting comfortably down on the little fur rug before the stove — the skin of the coyote his father had killed four years ago. “I believe in being good to your mother when you’ve only got the one. Now tell us a story, Theodora — a real jolly story, you know, with lots of fighting in it. Only please don’t kill anybody. I like to hear about fighting, but I like to have all the people come out alive.”

      Theodora laughed, and began a story about the Riel Rebellion of ‘85 — a story which had the double merit of being true and exciting at the same time. It was quite dark when she finished, and the twins were nodding, but Jimmy’s eyes were wide open and sparkling.

      “That was great,” he said, drawing a long breath. “Tell us another.”

      “No, it’s bedtime for you all,” said Theodora firmly. “One story at a time is my rule, you know.”

      “But I want to sit up till Mother comes home,” objected Jimmy.

      “You can’t. She may be very late, for she would have to wait to see Mr. Porter. Besides, you don’t know what time Santa Claus might come — if he comes at all. If he were to drive along and see you children up instead of being sound asleep in bed, he might go right on and never call at all.”

      This argument was too much for Jimmy.

      “All right, we’ll go. But we have to hang up our stockings first. Twins, get yours.”

      The twins toddled off in great excitement, and brought back their Sunday stockings, which Jimmy proceeded to hang along the edge of the mantel shelf. This done, they all trooped obediently off to bed. Theodora gave another sigh, and seated herself at the window, where she could watch the moonlit prairie for Mrs. Martin’s homecoming and knit at the same time.

      I am afraid that you will think from all the sighing Theodora was doing that she was a very melancholy and despondent young lady. You couldn’t think anything more unlike the real Theodora. She was the jolliest, bravest girl of sixteen in all Saskatchewan, as her shining brown eyes and rosy, dimpled cheeks would have told you; and her sighs were not on her own account, but simply for fear the children were going to be disappointed. She knew that they would be almost heartbroken if Santa Claus did not come, and that this would hurt the patient hardworking little mother more than all else.

      Five years before this, Theodora had come to live with Uncle George and Aunt Elizabeth in the little log house at Red Butte. Her own mother had just died, and Theodora had only her big brother Donald left, and Donald had Klondike fever. The Martins were poor, but they had gladly made room for their little niece, and Theodora had lived there ever since, her aunt’s righthand girl and the beloved playmate of the children. They had been very happy until Uncle George’s death two years before this Christmas Eve; but since then there had been hard times in the little log house, and though Mrs. Martin and Theodora did their best, it was a woefully hard task to make both ends meet, especially this year when their crops had been poor. Theodora and her aunt had made every sacrifice possible for the children’s sake, and at least Jimmy and the twins had not felt the pinch very severely yet.

      At seven Mrs. Martins bells jingled at the door and Theodora flew out. “Go right in and get warm, Auntie,” she said briskly. “I’ll take Ned away and unharness him.”

      “It’s a bitterly cold night,” said Mrs. Martin wearily. There was a note of discouragement in her voice that struck dismay to Theodora’s heart.

      “I’m afraid it means no Christmas for the children tomorrow,” she thought sadly, as she led Ned away to the stable. When she returned to the kitchen Mrs. Martin was sitting by the fire, her face in her chilled hand, sobbing convulsively.

      “Auntie — oh, Auntie, don’t!” exclaimed Theodora impulsively. It was such a rare thing to see her plucky, resolute little aunt in tears. “You’re cold and tired — I’ll have a nice cup of tea for you in a trice.”

      “No, it isn’t that,” said Mrs. Martin brokenly “It was seeing those stockings hanging there. Theodora, I couldn’t get a thing for the children — not a single thing. Mr. Porter would only give forty dollars for the colt, and when all the bills were paid there was barely enough left for such necessaries as we must have. I suppose I ought to feel thankful I could get those. But the thought of the children’s disappointment tomorrow is more than I can bear. It would have been better to have told them long ago, but I kept building on getting more for the colt. Well, it’s weak and foolish to give way like this. We’d better both take a cup of tea and go to bed. It will save fuel.”

      When Theodora went up to her little room her face was very thoughtful. She took a small box from her table and carried it to the window. In it was a very pretty little gold locket hung on a narrow blue ribbon. Theodora held it tenderly in her fingers, and looked out over the moonlit prairie with