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Page 19
Breakfast, for the first five minutes, was a silent meal; then
Miss Polly, her disapproving eyes following the airy wings of two
flies darting here and there over the table, said sternly:
"Nancy, where did those flies come from?"
"I don't know, ma'am. There wasn't one in the kitchen." Nancy had
been too excited to notice Pollyanna's up-flung windows the
afternoon before.
"I reckon maybe they're my flies, Aunt Polly," observed
Pollyanna, amiably. "There were lots of them this morning having
a beautiful time upstairs."
Nancy left the room precipitately, though to do so she had to
carry out the hot muffins she had just brought in.
"Yours!" gasped Miss Polly. "What do you mean? Where did they
come from?"
"Why, Aunt Polly, they came from out of doors of course, through
the windows. I SAW some of them come in."
"You saw them! You mean you raised those windows without any
screens?"
"Why, yes. There weren't any screens there, Aunt Polly."
Nancy, at this moment, came in again with the muffins. Her face
was grave, but very red.
"Nancy," directed her mistress, sharply, "you may set the muffins
down and go at once to Miss Pollyanna's room and shut the
windows. Shut the doors, also. Later, when your morning work is
done, go through every room with the spatter. See that you make a
thorough search."
To her niece she said:
"Pollyanna, I have ordered screens for those windows. I knew, of
course, that it was my duty to do that. But it seems to me that
you have quite forgotten YOUR duty."
"My--duty?" Pollyanna's eyes were wide with wonder.
"Certainly. I know it is warm, but I consider it your duty to
keep your windows closed till those screens come. Flies,
Pollyanna, are not only unclean and annoying, but very dangerous
to health. After breakfast I will give you a little pamphlet on
this matter to read."
"To read? Oh, thank you, Aunt Polly. I love to read!"
Miss Polly drew in her breath audibly, then she shut her lips
together hard. Pollyanna, seeing her stern face, frowned a little
thoughtfully.
"Of course I'm sorry about the duty I forgot, Aunt Polly," she
apologized timidly. "I won't raise the windows again."
Her aunt made no reply. She did not speak, indeed, until the meal
was over. Then she rose, went to the bookcase in the sitting
room, took out a small paper booklet, and crossed the room to her
niece's side.
"This is the article I spoke of, Pollyanna. I desire you to go to
your room at once and read it. I will be up in half an hour to
look over your things."
Pollyanna, her eyes on the illustration of a fly's head, many
times magnified, cried joyously:
"Oh, thank you, Aunt Polly!" The next moment she skipped merrily
from the room, banging the door behind her.
Miss Polly frowned, hesitated, then crossed the room majestically
and opened the door; but Pollyanna was already out of sight,
clattering up the attic stairs.
Half an hour later when Miss Polly, her face expressing stern
duty in every line, climbed those stairs and entered Pollyanna's
room, she was greeted with a burst of eager enthusiasm.
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