John Pendleton smiled grimly.
Well, yes, Pollyanna; I guess it is just as well you didnt mention it yesterday.
I didnt only to the doctor; and of course he doesnt count.
The doctor! cried John Pendleton, turning quickly. Not Dr. Chilton?
Yes; when he came to tell me you wanted to see me to-day, you know.
Well, of all the muttered the man, falling back in his chair. Then he sat up with sudden interest. And what did Dr. Chilton say? he asked.
Pollyanna frowned thoughtfully.
Why, I dont remember. Not much, I reckon. Oh, he did say he could well imagine you did want to see me.
Oh, did he, indeed![138] answered John Pendleton. And Pollyanna wondered why he gave that sudden queer little laugh.
Chapter XXI
A Question Answered
The sky was darkening fast with what appeared to be an approaching thunder shower when Pollyanna hurried down the hill from John Pendletons house. Half-way home she met Nancy with an umbrella. By that time, however, the clouds had shifted their position and the shower was not so imminent.
Guess its goin round ter the north, announced Nancy, eyeing the sky critically. I thought twas, all the time, but Miss Polly wanted me ter come with this. She was WORRIED about ye!
Was she? murmured Pollyanna abstractedly, eyeing the clouds in her turn.
Nancy sniffed a little.
You dont seem ter notice what I said, she observed aggrievedly. I said yer aunt was WORRIED about ye!
Oh, sighed Pollyanna, remembering suddenly the question she was so soon to ask her aunt. Im sorry. I didnt mean to scare her.
Well, Im glad, retorted Nancy, unexpectedly. I am, I am.
Pollyanna stared.
GLAD that Aunt Polly was scared about me! Why, Nancy, THAT isnt the way to play the game to be glad for things like that! she objected.
There want no game in it, retorted Nancy. Never thought of it. YOU dont seem ter sense what it means ter have Miss Polly WORRIED about ye, child!
Why, it means worried and worried is horrid to feel, maintained Pollyanna. What else can it mean?
Nancy tossed her head.
Well, Ill tell ye what it means. It means shes at last gettin down somewheres near human[139] like folks; an that she aint jest doin her duty by ye all the time.
Why, Nancy, demurred the scandalized Pollyanna, Aunt Polly always does her duty. She shes a very dutiful woman! Unconsciously Pollyanna repeated John Pendletons words of half an hour before.
Nancy chuckled.
Youre right she is and she always was, I guess! But shes somethin more, now, since you came.
Pollyannas face changed. Her brows drew into a troubled frown.
There, thats what I was going to ask you, Nancy, she sighed. Do you think Aunt Polly likes to have me here? Would she mind if if I wasnt here any more?
Nancy threw a quick look into the little girls absorbed face. She had expected to be asked this question long before, and she had dreaded it. She had wondered how she should answer it how she could answer it honestly without cruelly hurting the questioner. But now, NOW, in the face of the new suspicions that had become convictions by the afternoons umbrella-sending Nancy only welcomed the question with open arms. She was sure that, with a clean conscience to-day, she could set the love-hungry little girls heart at rest.
Likes ter have ye here? Would she miss ye if ye want here? cried Nancy, indignantly. As if that want jest what I was tellin of ye![140] Didnt she send me posthaste with an umbrella cause she see a little cloud in the sky? Didnt she make me tote yer things all down-stairs, so you could have the pretty room you wanted? Why, Miss Pollyanna, when ye remember how at first she hated ter have
With a choking cough Nancy pulled herself up just in time[141].
And it aint jest things I can put my fingers on, neither, rushed on Nancy, breathlessly. Its little ways she has, that shows how youve been softenin her up an mellerin her down the cat, and the dog, and the way she speaks ter me, and oh, lots o things. Why, Miss Pollyanna, there aint no tellin how shed miss ye if ye want here, finished Nancy, speaking with an enthusiastic certainty that was meant to hide the perilous admission she had almost made before. Even then she was not quite prepared for the sudden joy that illumined Pollyannas face.
Oh, Nancy, Im so glad glad glad! You dont know how glad I am that Aunt Polly wants me!
As if Id leave her now![142] thought Pollyanna, as she climbed the stairs to her room a little later. I always knew I wanted to live with Aunt Polly but I reckon maybe I didnt know quite how much I wanted Aunt Polly to want to live with ME!
The task of telling John Pendleton of her decision would not be an easy one, Pollyanna knew, and she dreaded it. She was very fond of John Pendleton, and she was very sorry for him because he seemed to be so sorry for himself. She was sorry, too, for the long, lonely life that had made him so unhappy; and she was grieved that it had been because of her mother that he had spent those dreary years. She pictured the great gray house as it would be after its master was well again, with its silent rooms, its littered floors, its disordered desk; and her heart ached for his loneliness. She wished that somewhere, some one might be found who And it was at this point that she sprang to her feet with a little cry of joy at the thought that had come to her.
As soon as she could, after that, she hurried up the hill to John Pendletons house; and in due time she found herself in the great dim library, with John Pendleton himself sitting near her, his long, thin hands lying idle on the arms of his chair, and his faithful little dog at his feet.
Well, Pollyanna, is it to be the glad game with me, all the rest of my life? asked the man, gently.
Oh, yes, cried Pollyanna. Ive thought of the very gladdest kind of a thing for you to do, and
With YOU? asked John Pendleton, his mouth growing a little stern at the corners.
N-no; but
Pollyanna, you arent going to say no! interrupted a voice deep with emotion.
I Ive got to, Mr. Pendleton; truly I have. Aunt Polly
Did she REFUSE to let you come?
I I didnt ask her, stammered the little girl, miserably.
Pollyanna!
Pollyanna turned away her eyes. She could not meet the hurt, grieved gaze of her friend.
So you didnt even ask her!
I couldnt, sir truly, faltered Pollyanna. You see, I found out without asking. Aunt Polly WANTS me with her, and and I want to stay, too, she confessed bravely. You dont know how good shes been to me; and and I think, really, sometimes shes beginning to be glad about things lots of things. And you know she never used to be[143]. You said it yourself. Oh, Mr. Pendleton, I COULDNt leave Aunt Polly now!
There was a long pause. Only the snapping of the wood fire in the grate broke the silence. At last, however, the man spoke.
No, Pollyanna; I see. You couldnt leave her now, he said. I wont ask you again. The last word was so low it was almost inaudible; but Pollyanna heard.
Oh, but you dont know about the rest of it, she reminded him eagerly. Theres the very gladdest thing you CAN do truly there is!
Not for me, Pollyanna.
Yes, sir, for you. You SAID it. You said only a a womans hand and heart or a childs presence could make a home. And I can get it for you a childs presence; not me, you know, but another one.
As if I would have any but you![144] resented an indignant voice.
But you will when you know; youre so kind and good! Why, think of the prisms and the gold pieces, and all that money you save for the heathen, and
Pollyanna! interrupted the man, savagely. Once for all let us end that nonsense! Ive tried to tell you half a dozen times before. There is no money for the heathen. I never sent a penny to them in my life. There!
He lifted his chin and braced himself to meet what he expected the grieved disappointment of Pollyannas eyes. To his amazement, however, there was neither grief nor disappointment in Pollyannas eyes. There was only surprised joy.
Oh, oh! she cried, clapping her hands. Im so glad! That is, she corrected, coloring distressfully, I dont mean that Im not sorry for the heathen, only just now I cant help being glad that you dont want the little India boys, because all the rest have wanted them. And so Im glad youd rather have Jimmy Bean. Now I know youll take him!
Take WHO?
Jimmy Bean. Hes the childs presence, you know; and hell be so glad to be it. I had to tell him last week that even my Ladies Aid out West wouldnt take him, and he was so disappointed. But now when he hears of this hell be so glad!
Will he? Well, I wont, ejaculated the man, decisively. Pollyanna, this is sheer nonsense!
You dont mean you wont take him?
I certainly do mean just that.[145]
But hed be a lovely childs presence, faltered Pollyanna. She was almost crying now. And you COULDNt be lonesome with Jimmy round.
I dont doubt it, rejoined the man; but I think I prefer the lonesomeness.
It was then that Pollyanna, for the first time in weeks, suddenly remembered something Nancy had once told her. She raised her chin aggrievedly.
Maybe you think a nice live little boy wouldnt be better than that old dead skeleton you keep somewhere; but I think it would!
SKELETON?
Yes. Nancy said you had one in your closet, somewhere.
Why, what Suddenly the man threw back his head and laughed. He laughed very heartily indeed so heartily that Pollyanna began to cry from pure nervousness. When he saw that, John Pendleton sat erect very promptly. His face grew grave at once.
Pollyanna, I suspect you are right more right than you know[146], he said gently. In fact, I KNOW that a nice live little boy would be far better than my skeleton in the closet; only we arent always willing to make the exchange. We are apt to still cling to our skeletons, Pollyanna. However, suppose you tell me a little more about this nice little boy.
And Pollyanna told him.
Perhaps the laugh cleared the air; or perhaps the pathos of Jimmy Beans story as told by Pollyannas eager little lips touched a heart already strangely softened. At all events, when Pollyanna went home that night she carried with her an invitation for Jimmy Bean himself to call at the great house with Pollyanna the next Saturday afternoon.
And Im so glad, and Im sure youll like him, sighed Pollyanna, as she said good-by. I do so want Jimmy Bean to have a home and folks that care, you know.
Chapter XXII
Sermons and Woodboxes
On the afternoon that Pollyanna told John Pendleton of Jimmy Bean, the Rev.[147] Paul Ford climbed the hill and entered the Pendleton Woods, hoping that the hushed beauty of Gods out-of-doors would still the tumult that His children of men had wrought.