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Page 69
"As if I'd leave her now!" thought Pollyanna, as she climbed the
stairs to her room a little later. "I always knew I wanted to
live with Aunt Polly--but I reckon maybe I didn't know quite how
much I wanted Aunt Polly--to want to live with ME!"
The task of telling John Pendleton of her decision would not be
an easy one, Pollyanna knew, and she dreaded it. She was very
fond of John Pendleton, and she was very sorry for him--because
he seemed to be so sorry for himself. She was sorry, too, for the
long, lonely life that had made him so unhappy; and she was
grieved that it had been because of her mother that he had spent
those dreary years. She pictured the great gray house as it would
be after its master was well again, with its silent rooms, its
littered floors, its disordered desk; and her heart ached for his
loneliness. She wished that somewhere, some one might be found
who--And it was at this point that she sprang to her feet with a
little cry of joy at the thought that had come to her.
As soon as she could, after that, she hurried up the hill to John
Pendleton's house; and in due time she found herself in the great
dim library, with John Pendleton himself sitting near her, his
long, thin hands lying idle on the arms of his chair, and his
faithful little dog at his feet.
"Well, Pollyanna, is it to be the 'glad game' with me, all the
rest of my life?" asked the man, gently.
"Oh, yes," cried Pollyanna. "I've thought of the very gladdest
kind of a thing for you to do, and--"
"With--YOU?" asked John Pendleton, his mouth growing a little
stern at the corners.
"N-no; but--"
"Pollyanna, you aren't going to say no!" interrupted a voice deep
with emotion.
"I--I've got to, Mr. Pendleton; truly I have. Aunt Polly--"
"Did she REFUSE--to let you--come?"
"I--I didn't ask her," stammered the little girl, miserably.
"Pollyanna!"
Pollyanna turned away her eyes. She could not meet the hurt,
grieved gaze of her friend.
"So you didn't even ask her!"
"I couldn't, sir--truly," faltered Pollyanna. "You see, I found
out--without asking. Aunt Polly WANTS me with her, and--and I
want to stay, too," she confessed bravely. "You don't know how
good she's been to me; and--and I think, really, sometimes she's
beginning to be glad about things--lots of things. And you know
she never used to be. You said it yourself. Oh, Mr. Pendleton, I
COULDN'T leave Aunt Polly--now!"
There was a long pause. Only the snapping of the wood fire in the
grate broke the silence. At last, however, the man spoke.
"No, Pollyanna; I see. You couldn't leave her--now," he said. "I
won't ask you--again." The last word was so low it was almost
inaudible; but Pollyanna heard.
"Oh, but you don't know about the rest of it," she reminded him
eagerly. "There's the very gladdest thing you CAN do--truly there
is!"
"Not for me, Pollyanna."
"Yes, sir, for you. You SAID it. You said only a--a woman's hand
and heart or a child's presence could make a home. And I can get
it for you--a child's presence;--not me, you know, but another
one."
"As if I would have any but you!" resented an indignant voice.
"But you will--when you know; you're so kind and good! Why, think
of the prisms and the gold pieces, and all that money you save
for the heathen, and--"
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