When they got to the top of the hill near the cemetery where Maud had read Nate’s note all those weeks ago, he took Maud’s hand and said, “You know, someone might think I was your future husband for taking your hand.”
Maud tried to pull her hand away, but he held firm and kissed it. His hand was warm—and the kiss! Maud was sure anyone who had ever written about a hand being kissed couldn’t encapsulate the tenderness and joy she felt at that moment. He continued to hold her hand as they turned toward the school woods. Her cheeks felt warm, and she was sure she was all flushed, so she focused her attention on the red earth so he wouldn’t see, hoping she was holding her end of the conversation—although she had no idea what she was saying.
A part of her knew she should let go of his hand. They were daringly close to her grandparents’ house, and who knew what would happen if they were caught or seen. It would only end in heartbreak.
He was Baptist, she Presbyterian.
She remembered her conversation with Pensie about those Dockendorff brides causing a big rift in the family tree. But as Maud walked with Nate’s hand around hers, feeling each fingertip against her skin, all of those concerns were carried away by the stars lighting their way home.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
But by Monday afternoon all of those concerns had returned. Maud arrived home after school so furious at Clemmie and Annie—and what they said about her and Nate—that even after she had written out the entire ordeal in her journal, she was still shaking in anger.
Maud had promised Nate that she would write him a letter telling him exactly what happened, so it would be as if he’d been there himself. Whatever she decided, she had to make sure that Nate would be so upset that he would never speak to Clemmie again! Clemmie had said that she was going to make trouble for Maud, and she had. Maud wasn’t sure what she was more distressed about: her favorite teacher being involved, or that somehow the business between Annie and Clemmie had to do with Maud and Nate.
After pacing her room for almost an hour, Maud was finally calm enough to tell him the truth of how she saw it. Sitting down at the table in front of the window, watching the bare branches of Grandfather’s apple tree lash against the wind, she took a deep breath and began:
Dear Snip,
As promised, I’m faithfully recording the events that occurred after school this afternoon.
First, I am impressed with how Mollie got herself out of this mess by telling Miss Gordon that she knew nothing!
Can you believe it? It hadn’t even dawned on me to lie to Miss Gordon.
The tree snapped against the wind.
Maud stopped. Could she tell Nate what Clemmie had said? Perhaps if she built up to it…
Nate, it was as if we were in a real court of law—or as I have imagined it when I hear Grandpa Montgomery talk about it. Miss Gordon even rapped the drubbing ruler, like it was a gavel. She really could have been a lawyer.
“Annie, Clemmie, and Nellie,” she said. “Your behavior has been deplorable. It is time for you to tell me the truth.”
“Clemmie started it.” Annie pointed at her nemeses. “I was only defending myself.”
And then she had the nerve to point to me! Me!! “Maud saw the whole episode.”
I was mortified, but I stood up when Miss Gordon asked me to and proudly faced her.
“What do you know?”
“I don’t know what Annie thinks I saw.”
“That isn’t true!” Annie said.
Miss Gordon sighed and clicked the ruler against her desk.
“Maud, did you see Annie and Clemmie argue?”
“Yes.” I relented.
“And what was the nature of this fight?”
I wished to wipe that smug expression off Annie’s face with a dirty rag, but I took a deep breath and told the truth about what I saw the first day of school between Annie and Clemmie.
I kept wondering how I got there. I didn’t want to get involved with these girls, avoided them, ignored them, and, yet, they snared me into their trap!! I didn’t even want to consider what Miss Gordon was thinking about me.
Finally, Miss Gordon told me to sit down and then asked Mamie to stand up. “Now, why do you side with Annie?” Miss Gordon asked.
Mamie didn’t speak for a long while.
“There must be a reason why you chose to befriends with Annie and not Clemmie,” Miss Gordon said.
“There is,” Mamie finally said. “Clemmie is a gossip and a tattletale.”
“I am not!” Clemmie pounced.
“Clemmie!” Miss Gordon snapped the drubbing ruler against her desk. “You’ll have your chance to speak. It is now Mamie’s turn.”
Clemmie mumbled an apology.
Turning back to Mamie, Miss Gordon said, “Please continue.”
The tree clashed against the house again. Maud paused. Could she actually write the words? What would Nate say if she did? But if she didn’t and Clemmie told him, it would be worse…
“A few weeks ago Clemmie said something mean about Maud and Nate Lockhart to me,” Mamie said.
Miss Gordon’s eyes were now upon me, but I didn’t look away.
“And what did Clemmie say?” Miss Gordon asked.
Mamie cleared her throat. “Clemmie said, ‘Isn’t it absurd, the way Maud and Nate go on?’?”
Maud reread the sentence. There it was. The truth as people saw it. Saw her. Maud remembered how she couldn’t even look Miss Gordon in the eye, but she wouldn’t tell Nate that! No, she had to divert his attention onto Clemmie, show how this was all her fault!
The sheer nerve of it. But after Miss Gordon told Mamie to sit down, she told Clemmie to stand.
Clemmie stood, her hands behind her back, breathing heavily through her mouth so she sounded like a fish caught in one of my grandfather’s nets.
“How exactly do Maud and Nate ‘go on’?” Miss Gordon asked.
Clemmie gulped. “Well…”
“Yes?”
“They are always passing notes to each other and talking together. And he’s always walking her home. It isn’t civilized.”
The way she was behaving wasn’t civilized!
I finally looked Miss Gordon in the eye and prayed I didn’t show any indication that anything Clemmie had said was true—which as you know it isn’t. It is clear to anyone that Clemmie is jealous of our friendship.
When Miss Gordon finally spoke, she appeared to be choosing her words very carefully. “I have never believed Maud or Nate required much direction.” She paused. “Nor do I think so now.”
Clemmie flashed me such a poisonous look, and Miss Gordon told her to sit down. Her ruling: both girls got a few slaps on their hands with her ruler, warning that if they continued this behavior they would be expelled.
So now you know everything and I want you to promise me that as punishment you will follow my example and never speak to Clemmie Macneill again!
Sincerely,
Pollie
When Maud gave Nate the letter the next day, he was so furious that he vowed he would never speak to Clemmie Macneill again. Victory was indeed sweet.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN