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Page 34
Polly felt convicted of sin, although she was not very clear as to the
reason. She blushed as she said hastily, "Your mother has been a very
good friend to us, Edgar; why should n't we help you a little, just for
once? Now, let us go in to see mamma and talk it all over together!"
"If you pity me, Polly, don't tell her; I could not bear to have that
saint upon earth worried over my troubles; it was mean enough to add a
feather's weight to yours."
"Well, we won't do it, then," said Polly, with maternal kindness in her
tone. "Do stop pacing up and down like a caged panther. We 'll find
some other way out of the trouble; but boys are such an anxiety! Do
you think, Edgar, that you have reformed?"
"Bless your soul! I 've kept within my allowance for two or three
months. As Susan Nipper says, 'I may be a camel, but I 'm not a
dromedary!' When I found out where I was, I stopped; I had to stop,
and I knew it. I 'm all right now, thanks to--several things. In
fact, I 've acquired a kind of appetite for behaving myself now, and if
the rascally debts were only out of the way, I should be the happiest
fellow in the universe."
"You cannot apply to your father, so there is only one thing to
do,--that is, to earn the money."
"But how, when I 'm in the class-room three fourths of the day?"
"I don't know," said Polly hopelessly. "I can tell you what to do, but
not how to do it; I 'm nothing but a miserable girl."
"I must stay in college, and I must dig and make up for lost time; so
most of my evenings will be occupied."
"You must put all your 'musts' together," said Polly decisively, "and
then build a bridge over them, or tunnel through them, or span them
with an arch. We 'll keep thinking about it, and I'm sure something
will turn up; I 'm not discouraged a bit. You see, Edgar," and Polly's
face flushed with feeling as she drew patterns on the tablecloth with
her tortoise-shell hairpin,--"you see, of course, the good fairies are
not going to leave you in the lurch when you 've turned your back on
the ugly temptations, and are doing your very best. And now that we
've talked it all over, Edgar, I 'm not ashamed of you! Mamma and I
have been so proud of your successes the last month. She believes in
you!"
"Of course," said Edgar dolefully; "because she knows only the best."
"But I know the best and the worst too, and I believe in you! It seems
to me the best is always the truest part of one, after all. No, we are
not going to be naughty any more; we are going to earn that hateful
Tony's money; we are going to take all the class honors, just for fun,
not because we care for such trifles, and we are going home for the
summer holidays in a blaze of glory!"
Edgar rose with a lighter heart in his breast than he had felt there
for many a week. "Good-night, Parson Polly," he said rather formally,
for he was too greatly touched to be able to command his tones; "add
your prayers to your sermons, and perhaps you 'll bring the black sheep
safely into the fold."
The quick tears rushed to Polly's eyes; for Edgar's stiff manner sat
curiously on him, and she feared she had annoyed him by too much
advice. "Oh, Edgar," she said, with a quivering lip, "I did n't mean
to pose or to preach! You know how full of faults I am, and if I were
a boy I should be worser I was only trying to help a little, eves if I
am younger and a girl! Don't--don't think I was setting myself up as
better than you; that's so mean and conceited and small! Edgar dear, I
am so proud to think you told me your troubles; don't turn away from
me, or I shall think you are sorry you trusted me!" and Polly laid a
persuasive, disarming hand on the lad's shoulder.
Suddenly Edgar's heart throbbed with a new feeling. He saw as in a
vision the purity, fidelity, and tender yearning of a true woman's
nature shining through a girl's eyes. In that moment he wished as
never before to be manly and worthy. He seemed all at once to
understand his mother, his sister, all women better, and with a quick
impulsive gesture which he would not have understood a month before, he
bent his head over astonished Polly's hand, kissed it reverently, then
opened the door and went to his room without a word.
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