What did Santa Claus say when he saw the three Polly Perkinses?
That is something you and I will never know, unless some day one of the Polly Perkinses opens her lips and tells.
For, of course, no one saw Santa Claus that Christmas Eve. Neither Patty, nor Ailie, nor Anne Marie, nor any one of the hundreds and hundreds of little boys and girls who meant to lie awake that night and steal a glimpse of Santa Claus, or at least hear the patter of his reindeer’s hoofs or catch the faintest tinkle of their bells.
But Anne Marie did see the Christmas Angel.
To be sure, there was one moment the next day when she thought it might have been all a dream. But that moment was very short, indeed. And finally Anne Marie made up her mind that not only had she seen the Christmas Angel, but that the Angel had bent over her bed and had smilingly given her a gentle Christmas kiss.
When Anne Marie, holding fast to Papa Durant’s hand, walked home from the Party, although the walk was a short one, she managed to tell him everything that had happened, from the moment she had presented her Christmas cakes to Grandmother King until Papa Durant himself had come to take her home.
She scarcely glanced up at the deep-blue starry sky. She scarcely noticed the happy people, laden with bundles, who hurried to and fro in the gay and frosty street.
Once home, she could scarcely eat her supper, so eager was she to tell Grand’mère all about the Christmas Party and to display the new Polly Perkins Durant in all her beauty of fresh pink frock and gray cloak and hood.
‘This cape is worthy of Paris,’ pronounced Grand’mère, after carefully examining not only the cape, but the pale blue lining as well. And this, from Grand’mère was praise indeed, as Anne Marie well knew.
It seemed very hard that Anne Marie could not tell Maman all about her happy afternoon, nor even show to her Polly Perkins Durant.