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Page 13
"Whew!"
"It is a good deal," said Polly, with modest pride; "and it would have
been more yet if we had not just painted the house."
"'A good deal!' my poor lambkin! I hoped it was $1012, at least; but,
however, you have the house, and that is as good as money. The house
must be rented, at once, furniture, boarders, and all, as it stands.
It ought to bring $85 or $95 a month, in these times, and you can
manage on that, with the $312 as a reserve."
"What if the tenant should give up the house as soon as we are fairly
settled in San Francisco?" asked Polly, with an absolutely new gleam of
caution and business in her eye.
"Brava! Why do I attempt to advise such a capable little person?
Well, in the first place, there are such things as leases; and in the
second place, if your tenant should move out, the agent must find you
another in short order, and you will live, meanwhile, on the reserve
fund. But, joking aside, there is very little risk. It is going to be
a great winter for Santa Barbara, and your house is attractive,
convenient, and excellently located. If we can get your affairs into
such shape that your mother will not be anxious, I hope, and think,
that the entire change and rest, together with the bracing air, will
work wonders. I shall give you a letter to a physician, a friend of
mine, and fortunately I shall come up once a month during the winter to
see an old patient who insists on retaining me just from force of
habit."
"And in another year, Dr. George, I shall be ready to take care of
mamma myself; and then--
"She shall sit on a cushion, and sew a fine seam,
And feast upon strawberries, sugar, and cream."
"Assuredly, my Polly, assuredly." The doctor was pacing up and down
the office now, hands in pockets, eyes on floor. "The world is your
oyster; open it, my dear,--open it. By the way," with a sharp turn,
"with what do you propose to open it?"
"I don't know yet, but not with boarders, Dr. George."
"Tut, tut, child; must n't despise small things!"
"Such as Mr. Greenwood," said Polly irrepressibly, "weight two hundred
and ninety pounds; and Mrs. Darling, height six feet one inch; no, I
'll try not to despise small things, thank you!"
"Well, if there 's a vocation, it will 'call,' you know, Polly. I 'd
rather like you for an assistant, to drive my horse and amuse my
convalescents. Bless my soul! you 'd make a superb nurse, except"--
"Except what, sir?"
"You 're not in equilibrium yet, my child; you are either up or down,
generally up. You bounce, so to speak. Now, a nurse must n't bounce;
she must be poised, as it were, or suspended, betwixt and between, like
Mahomet's coffin. But thank Heaven for your high spirits, all the
same! They will tide you over many a hard place, and the years will
bring the 'inevitable yoke' soon enough, Polly," and here Dr. George
passed behind the girl's chair and put his two kind hands on her
shoulders. "Polly, can you be really a woman? Can you put the
little-girl days bravely behind you?"
"I can, Dr. George." This in a very trembling voice.
"Can you settle all these details for your mother, and assume
responsibilities? Can you take her away, as if she were the child and
you the mother, all at once?"
"I can!" This more firmly.
"Can you deny yourself for her, as she has for you? Can you keep
cheerful and sunny? Can you hide your fears, if there should be cause
for any, in your own heart? Can you be calm and strong, if"--
"No, no!" gasped Polly, dropping her head on the back of the chair and
shivering like a leaf. "No, no; don't talk about fears, Dr. George.
She will be better. She will be better very soon. I could not live"--
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