A GREAT CHRISTMAS FEAST
The Christmas guests had gathered when Teddy drew rein at the yard gate
of his father’s hospitable mansion. There were several cars parked
along the driveway and a large family sleigh was being unloaded just
ahead of him.
“Christmas gift, Jo! Christmas gift, Sue--you, too, Billy! Christmas
gift, Aunt Julia! Christmas gift, Uncle Tom!” he called, and in turn
was deluged with cries of “Christmas gift” from the occupants of the
sleigh.
“It was bully of you all to drive over. Mother was so afraid you might
not venture in the snow, but I was sure you would come. I want all of
you to meet my friend Miss Friend, Josie for short. She’s heard a lot
about you and is just dying to know you.”
“I am sure we have heard a lot about you, too,” murmured Aunt Julia
politely.
“More about you than you have about us, I’ll be bound,” said Uncle Tom
with a genial wink.
As Josie had never heard a word about them and was not even aware of
the surnames of these kindly kinsmen of her host, she could vouch
for their having at least heard as much about her as she had about
them and as they knew her last name--that is the last name she had
assumed--she might even agree that they knew more of her than she did
of them. At any rate, they were kind and cordial and willing to take
her on Teddy’s say-so. It was Christmas day and Josie was determined to
make the most of the opportunity to have a good old-fashioned time in
a good old-fashioned way, while she was engaged in picking up as much
information as possible concerning Ursula and the kidnaping of little
Philip.
The house was gay with holly and running cedar, with great bunches of
mistletoe hung from the chandeliers and wreaths of swamp berries in
every window. The piny odor of the evergreens, mingled with that of
choice foods, made Josie’s nostrils twitch with pleasure.
“Mother, I’ve brought a friend in to dinner,” Teddy said simply. He
took Josie’s arm and presented her to the sweet-faced lady who was
standing in the middle of the spacious parlor. “Josie Friend, Mother.”
“I am so glad to see you.” The words were so simple and so genuinely
spoken that Josie was sorry, even for a short time, to have to seem to
be something she was not. She longed to be able to tell this lovely
woman who she was and how she happened to be in Peewee Valley on that
white Christmas. However, she realized the importance of carrying out
the program she and Teddy had planned and merely said, “Thank you,” in
response to Teddy’s mother and, “Thank you,” again when Colonel Trask
was equally cordial.
“That is Cheatham!” Teddy whispered, as a tall, rather commanding,
figure appeared in the doorway. Josie controlled herself not to look at
the man too closely, but began talking to Uncle Tom, who had taken a
stand near her. Uncle Tom was easy to talk to because all one had to do
was listen.
“Pleasant gathering,” he said “Mighty pleasant. Been coming here to
Christmas dinner ever since I can remember. Married Julia Bowles, you
know, Anita’s sister--Mrs. Trask, that is--but I reckon Teddy has told
you all the ins and outs of the family. Fine family, good housekeepers,
good friends, plenty of looks, plenty of money, good characters, good
citizens. I don’t always like their friends, but it’s none of my
business who comes here.”
“Who is that man in the doorway?” asked Josie, designating Cheatham,
thinking she might get a side line on his traits from Uncle Tom.
“Cheatham! He’ll do it, all right, all right. I can’t abide that man.
But I’m not obeying the rules of hospitality to be criticizing a fellow
guest to a fellow guest.”
“I won’t tell,” laughed Josie.
“Of course not. Anybody that’s a friend of Teddy’s is sure to be a
good sport--that is, anybody but Cheatham. I never could understand my
sister-in-law and her son in allowing that man to darken their doors.
That’s what he does to a door when he enters it. He sure does darken
it. As for Colonel Trask, I know he can’t stand the man any more than I
can, but he’s one of these old time courtly men who let the women folk
rule them. Me? I tell you nobody bosses me. If my Julia tried that game
on me, I tell you I’d--I’d--”
“Tom, go out and look in the sleigh for my glasses. Don’t say ‘send one
of the children,’ because I’m sure they would break them. Go along,
Tom! That’s a dear,” said Aunt Julia in a tone not to be questioned.
“Yes, my dear!” from the valorous Tom.
“I’ll go help find them,” suggested Josie. “Men never know how to find
things,” and then she whispered to Uncle Tom as they started towards
the front door, “I really believe your wife’s glasses are hanging by
a hook on the front of her dress. I saw something dangling there. Why
don’t you look?”
“I’ll bet they are. Won’t I have a good laugh on her, though!”
Josie was right and Uncle Tom was jubilant over the joke on Aunt Julia.
“I tell you, Miss Friend, you are a regular detective.”
As a detective was the last thing Josie wanted to seem to be, she was
almost sorry she had seen the eyeglasses, but at least she was able to
detain Uncle Tom in conversation concerning Mr. Cheatham.
“You were saying you didn’t like that handsome man over there,” she
suggested.
“Handsome! As handsome as ten-cent store silver! He’s a crook, I tell
you--a veritable crook. How decent people receive him is more than I
can see.”
“What does he do that is crooked?” asked Josie innocently.
“That’s just where his crookedness comes in,” exploded Uncle Tom.
“Nobody can put their fingers on his crookedness. He always manages to
get out before he gets in.”
“Is he married?”
“Widower with stepchildren, and now pretending he has to keep the
children in luxury although they even tried to kill him. Some people
in Louisville believe him, but not me. You can fool some of the people
all of the time and all the people some of the time but Cheatham hasn’t
ever fooled me. I know a crook when I see him and he is as crooked as a
snake.”
At this moment Josie was carried off by Teddy to meet some more of the
friends gathered under his father’s roof for Christmas dinner.
“Related to the Virginia Friends?” one old man asked. “Petersburg
people?”
Josie was fearful that she might get caught in a genealogical web and
quickly repudiated Virginia kin, explaining she was the last of her
line.
Dinner soon was announced, much to Josie’s relief. Not only was she
hungry, but she felt that when the guests began to eat they would not
evince quite so much interest in her relations. Teddy arranged matters
so that they sat directly opposite Cheatham.
“We can look right down his throat,” he explained in a whisper. “You
watch him and I’ll get him going.”
Josie had heard of groaning boards, but she had never heard one before.
The table at the Trasks’--although it was of solid mahogany--literally
creaked with the weight of the Christmas dinner. The fact that it was
stretched to its utmost length and the drop-leaf side-tables pressed
into service to make it even longer may have been responsible for
its audible groaning. A twenty-pound turkey at one end, and a huge
home-cured ham at the other, were flanked with dishes of escalloped
oysters, mashed potatoes, squash, spinach, celery, chicken salad, every
kind of pickle known to housewives, cranberry sauce, currant jelly and
other things that escaped one’s eye in the multiplicity of dishes.
Little attempt was made to serve the guests by the numerous servants,
who contented themselves by standing against the walls, grinning
happily over the prospect of the “leavin’s” that were sure to follow
such a feast and the “totin’s” they could no doubt accomplish on that
blessed Christmas day.
There were at least thirty guests seated at the long table in the great
dining room, and in the breakfast room adjoining the children were
holding high carnival at a table prepared especially for them. Their
happy voices and loud clamorings for turkey gizzards and drum sticks
could be heard above the clatter of knives and forks and tongues in the
grown-ups’ dining room.
“We always have a general scramble on Christmas day,” Teddy explained
to Josie. “There is no use in trying to have orderly service or put on
any style. It is always catch-as-catch-can at this Christmas dinner.
The same people come year after year, with an occasional addition.
Ursula used always to come, but this is the first time Cheatham has
been here on this day. He has been getting powerful thick out here
lately, now I come to think about it, and I’m just wondering why.”
Josie was not wondering at all. It was plain to see that Mr. Cheatham
was paying court to Anita Trask, but, brother like, Teddy was the last
to suspect that anyone was attentive to his sister. Anita was a very
pretty girl, with her brother’s fair hair and blue, blue eyes. She was
young and a bit shy, and evidently flattered by the devotion of the
handsome, middle-aged man who was seated next to her at the table.
“Ursula, Ursula,” thought Josie, “what a mistake you have made in
concealing from these kind friends the trouble you have had with your
stepfather! Had Mr. Trask dreamed of the real character of the man, he
never would have permitted him the freedom of his house and the right
to pay court to his daughter. Too great reticence and secretiveness is
worse than being a downright blabber. I only hope it is not too late to
spare Anita a heartache. She is certainly interested in her neighbor,
who no doubt can be as fascinating as he can be cruel and overbearing.”
Josie began to feel sorrier than ever for Ursula, because she was not
in her usual place at this unique gathering. Such a genial host and
gracious hostess! Such hungry guests and such plentiful food! Such
willing, if ineffectual, servants! Such gay badinage and good-natured
raillery! In ten minutes Josie felt almost as though she belonged.
Everybody accepted her simply and naturally. If she was Teddy’s friend,
she was everybody’s friend. She never was called on to explain her
presence in Peewee Valley and the tale of rag rugs and brooms and bed
quilts and baskets did not have to be told. Uncle Tom had begun to be
a little curious and was beginning on his questionnaire when cranberry
sauce and a turkey thigh switched him off the track and he forgot he
had not found out all he wanted to know.