Page:St. Nicholas - Volume 41, Part 1.djvu/119



boy, a suitcase in one hand and a pile of packages in his arms. dashed toward the car, leaving a furry old gentleman-in the sleigh to hold the horses. The old gentleman’s coat was fur, and his cap was fur, and so was the great rug which covered him. Under the fur cap was thick white hair, and all over the lower part of his face was a bushy white beard. And his checks were red, and his eves were laughing, and if he was n't Santa Claus's own self, he certainly looked enough like the nicest pictures of him to be his own brother.

On the seat beside him was a young girl, who, waiting only long enough to plant a kiss on one of those rosy cheeks above the snowy beard, sprang out of the sleigh and ran after the boy as hard as she could go. She was not more than sixteen, but she looked like a full-grown young lady to Libby, for her hair was tucked up under her little fur cap with its scarlet quill, and the long, fur-bordered red coat she wore reached her ankles. One hand was thrust through a row of holly wreaths, and she was carrying all the bundles both arms could hold.

By the time the boy had deposited his load in the section opposite the children’s and dashed back down the aisle, there was a call of “All aboard!” They met at the door, he and the pretty girl, she laughing and nodding her thanks over her pile of bundles. He raised his hat and bolted past, but stopped an instant, just before jumping off the train, to run back and thrust his head in the door and call out laughingly, “Good-by, Miss Santa Claus!”

Everybody in the car looked up and smiled, and turned and looked again as she went up the aisle, for a lovelier Christmas picture could not be imagined than the one she made in her long red coat, her arms full of packages and wreaths of holly. The lttle fur cap with its scarlet feather was powdered with snow, and the frosty wind had brought such a glow to her cheeks and a sparkle in her eyes, that she looked the living embodiment ot Christmas cheer. Her entrance seemed to bring with it the sense of all holiday joy, just as the cardinal’s first note holds in it the sweetness of a whole spring. Will'm edged along the seat until he was close beside Libby, and the two sat and stared at her with wide-eyed interest.