|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 33
"Upon my word, I 'm ashamed of you!" said Polly, with considerable
heat. "To waste money in that way, when you knew perfectly well you
could n't afford it, was--well, it was downright dishonest, that's what
it was! To hear you talk about dogs, and lame horses, and club
suppers, anybody would suppose you were a sporting man! Pray, what
else do they do in that charming college set of yours?"
"I might have known you would take that tone, but I did n't, somehow.
I told you just because I thought you were the one girl in a thousand
who would understand and advise a fellow when he knows he's made a fool
of himself and acted like a cur! I did n't suppose you would call hard
names, and be so unsympathizing, after all we have gone through
together!"
"I 'm not!--I did n't!--I won't do it again!" said Polly incoherently,
as she took a straight chair, planted her elbows on the table, and
leaned her chin in her two palms. "Now let's talk about it; tell me
everything quickly. How much is it?"
"Nearly two hundred dollars! Don't shudder so provokingly, Polly; that
's a mere bagatelle for a college man, but I know it's a good deal for
me,--a good deal more than I know how to get, at all events."
"Where is the debtors' prison?" asked Polly in an awestruck whisper.
"Oh, there is n't any such thing nowadays! I was only chaffing; but of
course, the men to whom I am in debt can apply to father, and get me in
a regular mess. I 've pawned my watch to stave one of them off. You
see, Polly, I would rather die than do it; nevertheless, I would write
and tell father everything, and ask him for the money, but
circumstances conspire just at this time to make it impossible. You
know he bought that great ranch in Ventura county with Albert Harding
of New York. Harding has died insolvent, and father has to make
certain payments or lose control of a valuable property. It's going to
make him a rich man some time, but for a year or two we shall have to
count every penny. Of course the fruit crop this season has been the
worst in ten years, and of course there has been a frost this winter,
the only severe one within the memory of the oldest inhabitant,--that's
the way it always is,--and there I am! I suppose you despise me,
Polly?"
"Yes, I do!" (hotly)--"No, I don't altogether, and I 'm not good enough
myself to be able to despise people. Besides, you are not a despisable
boy. You were born manly and generous and true-hearted, and these
hateful things that you have been doing are not a part of your nature a
bit; but I 'm ashamed of you for yielding to bad impulses when you have
so many good ones, and--oh dear!--I do that very same thing myself, now
that I stop to think about it. But how could you, _you_, Edgar Noble,
take that evil-eyed, fat-nosed, common Tony Selling for a friend? I
wonder at you!"
"He is n't so bad in some ways. I owe him eighty dollars of that
money, and he says he 'll give me six months to pay it."
"I 'm glad he has some small virtues," Polly replied witheringly.
"Now, what can we do, Edgar? Let us think. What can, what _can_ we
do?" and she leaned forward reflectively, clasping her knee with her
hands and wrinkling her brow with intense thought.
That little "we" fell on Edgar's loneliness of spirit consolingly; for
it adds a new pang to self-distrust when righteous people withdraw from
one in utter disdain, even if they are "only girls" who know little of
a boy's temptations.
"If you can save something each month out of your allowance, Edgar,"
said Polly, finally, with a brighter look, "I can spare fifty or even
seventy-five dollars of our money, and you may pay it back as you can.
We are not likely to need it for several months, and your father and
mother ought not to be troubled with this matter, now that it's over
and done with."
The blood rushed to Edgar's face as he replied stiffly: "I may be
selfish and recklessly extravagant, but I don't borrow money from
girls. If you wanted to add the last touch to my shame, you 've done
it. Don't you suppose I have eyes, Polly Oliver? Don't you suppose I
've hated myself ever since I came under this roof, when I have seen
the way you worked and planned and plotted and saved and denied
yourself? Don't you suppose I 've looked at you twenty times a day,
and said to myself, 'You miserable, selfish puppy, getting yourself and
everybody who cares for you into trouble, just look at that girl and be
ashamed of yourself down to the ground!' And now you offer to lend me
money! Oh, Polly, I wouldn't have believed it of you!"
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|