Pollyanna Eleanor H. Porter (classic english novels txt) đ
- Author: Eleanor H. Porter
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Miss Polly rose suddenly to her feet. Her face was very red.
âThat will do, Pollyanna,â she said stiffly.
âYou have said quite enough, Iâm sure.â The next minute she had swept down the stairsâ âand not until she reached the first floor did it suddenly occur to her that she had gone up into the attic to find a white wool shawl in the cedar chest near the east window.
Less than twenty-four hours later, Miss Polly said to Nancy, crisply:
âNancy, you may move Miss Pollyannaâs things downstairs this morning to the room directly beneath. I have decided to have my niece sleep there for the present.â
âYes, maâam,â said Nancy aloud.
âO glory!â said Nancy to herself.
To Pollyanna, a minute later, she cried joyously:
âAnd wonât ye jest be listeninâ ter this, Miss Pollyanna. Youâre ter sleep downstairs in the room straight under this. You areâ âyou are!â
Pollyanna actually grew white.
âYou meanâ âwhy, Nancy, not reallyâ âreally and truly?â
âI guess youâll think itâs really and truly,â prophesied Nancy, exultingly, nodding her head to Pollyanna over the armful of dresses she had taken from the closet. âIâm told ter take down yer things, and Iâm goinâ ter take âem, too, âfore she gets a chance ter change her mind.â
Pollyanna did not stop to hear the end of this sentence. At the imminent risk of being dashed headlong, she was flying downstairs, two steps at a time.
Bang went two doors and a chair before Pollyanna at last reached her goalâ âAunt Polly.
âOh, Aunt Polly, Aunt Polly, did you mean it, really? Why, that roomâs got everythingâ âthe carpet and curtains and three pictures, besides the one outdoors, too, âcause the windows look the same way. Oh, Aunt Polly!â
âVery well, Pollyanna. I am gratified that you like the change, of course; but if you think so much of all those things, I trust you will take proper care of them; thatâs all. Pollyanna, please pick up that chair; and you have banged two doors in the last half-minute.â Miss Polly spoke sternly, all the more sternly because, for some inexplicable reason, she felt inclined to cryâ âand Miss Polly was not used to feeling inclined to cry.
Pollyanna picked up the chair.
âYesâm; I know I banged âemâ âthose doors,â she admitted cheerfully. âYou see Iâd just found out about the room, and I reckon youâd have banged doors ifâ ââ Pollyanna stopped short and eyed her aunt with new interest. âAunt Polly, did you ever bang doors?â
âI hopeâ ânot, Pollyanna!â Miss Pollyâs voice was properly shocked.
âWhy, Aunt Polly, what a shame!â Pollyannaâs face expressed only concerned sympathy.
âA shame!â repeated Aunt Polly, too dazed to say more.
âWhy, yes. You see, if youâd felt like banging doors youâd have banged âem, of course; and if you didnât, that must have meant that you werenât ever glad over anythingâ âor you would have banged âem. You couldnât have helped it. And Iâm so sorry you werenât ever glad over anything!â
âPollyanna!â gasped the lady; but Pollyanna was gone, and only the distant bang of the attic-stairway door answered for her. Pollyanna had gone to help Nancy bring down âher things.â
Miss Polly, in the sitting room, felt vaguely disturbed;â âbut then, of course she had been gladâ âover some things!
XI Introducing JimmyAugust came. August brought several surprises and some changesâ ânone of which, however, were really a surprise to Nancy. Nancy, since Pollyannaâs arrival, had come to look for surprises and changes.
First there was the kitten.
Pollyanna found the kitten mewing pitifully some distance down the road. When systematic questioning of the neighbors failed to find any one who claimed it, Pollyanna brought it home at once, as a matter of course.
âAnd I was glad I didnât find any one who owned it, too,â she told her aunt in happy confidence; âââcause I wanted to bring it home all the time. I love kitties. I knew youâd be glad to let it live here.â
Miss Polly looked at the forlorn little gray bunch of neglected misery in Pollyannaâs arms, and shivered: Miss Polly did not care for catsâ ânot even pretty, healthy, clean ones.
âUgh! Pollyanna! What a dirty little beast! And itâs sick, Iâm sure, and all mangy and fleay.â
âI know it, poor little thing,â crooned Pollyanna, tenderly, looking into the little creatureâs frightened eyes. âAnd itâs all trembly, too, itâs so scared. You see it doesnât know, yet, that weâre going to keep it, of course.â
âNoâ ânor anybody else,â retorted Miss Polly, with meaning emphasis.
âOh, yes, they do,â nodded Pollyanna, entirely misunderstanding her auntâs words. âI told everybody we should keep it, if I didnât find where it belonged. I knew youâd be glad to have itâ âpoor little lonesome thing!â
Miss Polly opened her lips and tried to speak; but in vain. The curious helpless feeling that had been hers so often since Pollyannaâs arrival, had her now fast in its grip.
âOf course I knew,â hurried on Pollyanna, gratefully, âthat you wouldnât let a dear little lonesome kitty go hunting for a home when youâd just taken me in; and I said so to Mrs. Ford when she asked if youâd let me keep it. Why, I had the Ladiesâ Aid, you know, and kitty didnât have anybody. I knew youâd feel that way,â she nodded happily, as she ran from the room.
âBut, Pollyanna, Pollyanna,â remonstrated Miss Polly. âI donâtâ ââ But Pollyanna was already halfway to the kitchen, calling:
âNancy, Nancy, just see this dear little kitty that Aunt Polly is going to bring up along with me!â And Aunt Polly, in the sitting roomâ âwho abhorred catsâ âfell back in her chair with a gasp of dismay, powerless to remonstrate.
The next day it was a dog, even
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