|
||||||||
Miss Polly cleared her throat hurriedly. Well, shes just been here, dear. She left a message for youbut she wouldnt tell me what it meant. She said to tell you that Mrs. Tarbell is glad now. Pollyanna clapped her hands softly. Did she say thatreally? Oh, Im so glad! But, Pollyanna, what did she mean? Why, its the game, and Pollyanna stopped short, her fingers to her lips. What game? N-nothing much, Aunt Polly; that isI cant tell it unless I tell other things thatthat Im not to speak of. It was on Miss Pollys tongue to question her niece further; but the obvious distress on the little girls face stayed the words before they were uttered. Not long after Mrs. Tarbells visit, the climax came. It came in the shape of a call from a certain young woman with unnaturally pink cheeks and abnormally yellow hair; a young woman who wore high heels and cheap jewelry; a young woman whom Miss Polly knew very well by reputationbut whom she was angrily amazed to meet beneath the roof of the Harrington homestead. Miss Polly did not offer her hand. She drew back, indeed, as she entered the room. The woman rose at once. Her eyes were very red, as if she had been crying. Half defiantly she asked if she might, for a moment, see the little girl, Pollyanna. Miss Polly said no. She began to say it very sternly; but something in the womans pleading eyes made her add the civil explanation that no one was allowed yet to see Pollyanna. The woman hesitated; then a little brusquely she spoke. Her chin was still at a slightly defiant tilt. My name is Mrs. PaysonMrs. Tom Payson. I presume youve heard of memost of the good people in the town haveand maybe some of the things youve heard aint true. But never mind that. Its about the little girl I came. I heard about the accident, andand it broke me all up. Last week I heard how she couldnt ever walk again, andand I wished I could give up my two uselessly well legs for hers. Shed do more good trotting around on em one hour than I could in a hundred years. But never mind that. Legs aint always given to the one who can make the best use of em, I notice. She paused, and cleared her throat; but when she resumed her voice was still husky. Maybe you dont know it, but Ive seen a good deal of that little girl of yours. We live on the Pendleton Hill road, and she used to go by oftenonly she didnt always go by. She came in and played with the kids and talked to meand my man, when he was home. She seemed to like it, and to like us. She didnt know, I suspect, that her kind of folks dont generally call on my kind. Maybe if they did call more, Miss Harrington, there wouldnt be so manyof my kind, she added, with sudden bitterness. Be that as it may, she came; and she didnt do herself no harm, and she did do us gooda lot o good. How much she wont knownor cant know, I hope; cause if she did, shed know other thingsthat I dont want her to know. But its just this. Its been hard times with us this year, in more ways than one. Weve been blue and discouragedmy man and me, and ready formost anything. We was reckoning on getting a divorce |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Copyright: All texts on Bibliomania are © Bibliomania.com Ltd, and may not be reproduced in any form without our written permission. See our FAQ for more details. | ||||||||