After the trial, Clemmie kept her distance from Maud and Mollie. Even Annie had taken Miss Gordon’s warning seriously, focusing instead on trying to get Austin’s attention.
Maud and Mollie were on their way to school one morning when Clemmie approached them. Clemmie’s curly hair was tucked under a grayish-blue wool hat and she had her hands in a warm muff.
“What do you want, Clemmie?” Mollie said, when they got closer.
Clemmie tucked her muff close to her chest. “I had hoped to speak with Maud in private.”
“Did you?” Maud said.
“Anything you can say to Maud, you can say in front of me,” Mollie said.
Maud was grateful for Mollie’s devotion, but this was between her and Clemmie. “Mollie,” Maud said. “I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
Maud hugged her and, reluctantly, Mollie walked away. “I’ll be by the school woods if you need me.”
When she had gone, Maud turned back to Clemmie. “What did you want to say to me?”
Clemmie took her hands out of her muff, letting it fall to her side. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior.” She frowned. “And for what I said.”
“That is nice of you to say,” Maud said, as politely as she could. But she couldn’t help noticing that Clemmie’s gaze lingered on the boys who were now coming down the path.
“I never meant for it to go this far.”
Maud suddenly felt tired. She really had had enough of Clemmie, and whatever it was that made her apologize, Maud suspected that it probably had to do with Nate ignoring her. But, perhaps by accepting it they could all move forward. “I accept your apology, Clemmie,” she said.
“I am so relieved we can put this dreadful business behind us.” As she over-enthusiastically embraced her, Clemmie’s muff grazed Maud’s cheek.
“Me too,” Maud said. And as Clemmie walked over to where Nellie had been dutifully waiting for her, and Maud returned to Mollie, she truly was relieved.
—
On November 30, Maud celebrated her fifteenth birthday with Pensie, Mollie, and Lu, who came over to celebrate with cake and to stay overnight.
Maud hadn’t heard from Father in months and was beginning to get worried; he had never forgotten her birthday. As a forest ranger and homestead investigator, he was busy doing important work for the government. Perhaps that was why?
Aunt Annie and Uncle John Campbell sent Maud some scraps for the crazy quilt, and the cousins gave Maud a scrapbook to put her special mementoes in.
The Four Musketeers had also given her a bit of a party at school. Jack brought his mother’s shortbread, and Mollie gave her a beautiful piece of lace. Nate presented Maud with a book of verse by his uncle, Pastor Felix, and had signed the front:
To Polly,
Happy Birthday!
Your pal,
Snip
Maud adored it and started reading the poetry right away.
The day after her birthday, she received a genuine surprise when Grandpa Montgomery dropped by just when the tea was ready.
“He has impeccable timing, that man,” Grandma said to Maud, placing a plate of cold meats on the table.
Grandpa Montgomery was tall and broad with bushy whiskers, an intelligent smile, and Father’s eyes, and, even at eighty years old, he stood in sharp contrast to the quiet and demure Macneills. After her grandpa had given Maud his gift of store-bought candies and a wide-brimmed hat with a long blue ribbon, he showed her a letter. Maud immediately identified the crisp penmanship as her father’s. She could almost reach out and take it from him, but it wasn’t hers to read.
Grandpa Montgomery cleared his throat. “Your father wrote that he is still trying to make arrangements to return to Prince Albert, and so this isn’t a good time for Maud to come.” He turned to her grandparents. “I know you had discussed the possibility of her joining me next year, but I don’t think it will be possible.” He lightly tapped her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Maudie.”
Maud was surprised. Is that why she hadn’t heard from him? Is this what they had been planning after they had read her journal? She couldn’t believe it. Why was this the first she had heard of this? And why wouldn’t her father take her in?
“Your son has never taken responsibility for Maud,” Grandfather said.
“That is not true,” Grandpa Montgomery said, but there was no force behind his defense. Maud knew that Grandpa had arranged for Father’s current job and had disapproved of his son’s side ventures, which always seemed to lead to him losing money. When she was visiting her grandpa’s house in Park Corner last summer, she had overheard her uncles discussing how her father had asked for more money “for some scheme,” and hadn’t their father “done enough by securing him that post out West.”
Maud had wished to leap to Father’s defense, but she knew better than to interfere when grown-ups were speaking. Father was just misunderstood. He had big dreams, like she did. He would come for her. It might not be right away, but one day she would live with him and his family. That’s why it was important to show her grandparents how much she had changed, that she could contain her emotions in front of company.
Maud thanked her grandpa for his gifts and her father’s letter, and after he left, she took her things upstairs and wept.
—
Thankfully, Maud didn’t have much time to think about Father’s troubles—not when there were preparations for Christmas exams and, even more important, the Christmas concert, which included dialogues and singing. She and Mollie had a scene to perform, and Annie and Clemmie were to sing. The concert was very successful and Maud got a standing ovation. Her grandparents came again to see her, but just as before, they didn’t offer any praise.
Maud also finished her essay on the wreck of the Marco Polo, which she gave to Miss Gordon right before the break. She loved writing it, because no matter what was going on in the rest of her life, when Maud wrote, all her troubles faded away; it was her and her story of the great wreck.
Miss Gordon was very pleased with the essay and submitted it to the Montreal Witness, along with essays from Nate and a few other students. Maud was confident Nate was going to win. While his essay was a bit too flowery for her liking, it was truly good, and he had written on the railroad, a very popular topic.
Maud finally heard from Father at Christmas. He sent her a package that included a letter; a photo of him and his new wife, Mary Ann; and a picture of Katie, Maud’s baby half-sister. He also included a pile of magazines because he knew “she enjoyed reading about the fashions and stories.” But she couldn’t quite bring herself to read them—they reminded her too much of what she missed not being with him—so the magazines were left unread on her bureau.