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Page 22
("Perhaps it won't and perhaps it will," thought Polly.) "If you are
sure it won't be too much trouble, then"--
"Not a bit. Excuse me a moment while I run back and explain the matter
to the boys."
The boys did not require any elaborate explanation.
Oh, the power of a winsome face! No better than many other good
things, but surely one of them, and when it is united to a fair amount
of goodness, something to be devoutly thankful for. It is to be feared
that if a lumpish, dumpish sort of girl (good as gold, you know, but
not suitable for occasions when a fellow's will has to be caught "on
the fly," and held until it settles to its work),--if that lumpish,
dumpish girl had asked the way to Professor Salazar's house, Edgar
Noble would have led her courteously to the turn of the road, lifted
his hat, and wished her a pleasant journey.
But Polly was wearing her Sunday dress of brown cloth and a jaunty
jacket trimmed with sable (the best bits of an old pelisse of Mrs.
Oliver's). The sun shone on the loose-dropping coil of the waving hair
that was only caught in place by a tortoise-shell arrow; the wind blew
some of the dazzling tendrils across her forehead; the eyes that
glanced up from under her smart little sailor-hat were as blue as
sapphires; and Edgar, as he looked, suddenly feared that there might be
vicious bulls in the meadows, and did n't dare as a gentleman to trust
Polly alone! He had n't remembered anything special about her, but
after an interval of two years she seemed all at once as desirable as
dinner, as tempting as the minstrels, almost as fascinating as the
billiards, when one has just money enough in one's pocket for one's
last week's bills and none at all for the next!
The boys, as I say, had imagined Edgar's probable process of reasoning.
Polly was standing in the highroad where "a wayfaring man, though a
fool," could look at her; and when Edgar explained that it was his duty
to see her safely to her destination, they all bowed to the inevitable.
The one called Tony even said that he would be glad to "swap" with him,
and the whole party offered to support him in his escort duty if he
said the word. He agreed to meet the boys later, as Polly's quick ear
assured her, and having behaved both as a man of honor and knight of
chivalry, he started unsuspectingly across the fields with his would-be
guardian.
She darted a searching look at him as they walked along.
"Oh, how old and 'gentlemanly' you look, Edgar! I feel quite afraid of
you!"
"I 'm glad you do. There used to be a painful lack of reverence in
your manners, Miss Polly."
"There used to be a painful lack of politeness in yours, Mr. Edgar. Oh
dear, I meant to begin so nicely with you and astonish you with my new
grown-up manners! Now, Edgar, let us begin as if we had just been
introduced; if you will try your best not to be provoking, I won't say
a single disagreeable thing."
"Polly, shall I tell you the truth?"
"You might try; it would be good practice even if you did n't
accomplish anything."
"How does that remark conform with your late promises? However, I 'll
be forgiving and see if I receive any reward; I 've tried every other
line of action. What I was going to say when you fired that last shot
was this: I agree with Jack Howard, who used to say that he would
rather quarrel with you than be friends with any other girl."
"It is nice," said Polly complacently. "I feel a sort of pleasant glow
myself, whenever I 've talked to you a few minutes; but the trouble is
that you used to fan that pleasant glow into a raging heat, and then we
both got angry."
"If the present 'raging heat' has faded into the 'pleasant glow,' I
don't mind telling you that you are very much improved," said Edgar
encouragingly. "Your temper seems much the same, but no one who knew
you at fourteen could have foreseen that you would turn out so
exceedingly well."
"Do you mean that I am better looking?" asked Polly, with the excited
frankness of sixteen years.
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