Pollyanna Grows Up Eleanor H. Porter (booksvooks .TXT) đ
- Author: Eleanor H. Porter
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âPollyanna! Dear childâ âand the best part of it is, she is so unconscious of the whole thing. I donât believe even my sister yet quite realizes what is taking place within her own heart and life, and certainly Pollyanna doesnâtâ âleast of all does she realize the part she played in the change.
âAnd now, dear Mrs. Chilton, how can I thank you? I know I canât; so Iâm not even going to try. Yet in your heart I believe you know how grateful I am to both you and Pollyanna.
âDella Wetherby.â
âWell, it seems to have worked a cure, all right,â smiled Dr. Chilton, when his wife had finished reading the letter to him.
To his surprise she lifted a quick, remonstrative hand.
âThomas, donât, please!â she begged.
âWhy, Polly, whatâs the matter? Arenât you glad thatâ âthat the medicine worked?â
Mrs. Chilton dropped despairingly back in her chair.
âThere you go again, Thomas,â she sighed. âOf course Iâm glad that this misguided woman has forsaken the error of her ways and found that she can be of use to someone. And of course Iâm glad that Pollyanna did it. But I am not glad to have that child continually spoken of as if she were aâ âa bottle of medicine, or a âcure.â Donât you see?â
âNonsense! After all, whereâs the harm? Iâve called Pollyanna a tonic ever since I knew her.â
âHarm! Thomas Chilton, that child is growing older every day. Do you want to spoil her? Thus far she has been utterly unconscious of her extraordinary power. And therein lies the secret of her success. The minute she consciously sets herself to reform somebody, you know as well as I do that she will be simply impossible. Consequently, Heaven forbid that she ever gets it into her head that sheâs anything like a cure-all for poor, sick, suffering humanity.â
âNonsense! I wouldnât worry,â laughed the doctor.
âBut I do worry, Thomas.â
âBut, Polly, think of what sheâs done,â argued the doctor. âThink of Mrs. Snow and John Pendleton, and quantities of othersâ âwhy, theyâre not the same people at all that they used to be, any more than Mrs. Carew is. And Pollyanna did do itâ âbless her heart!â
âI know she did,â nodded Mrs. Polly Chilton, emphatically. âBut I donât want Pollyanna to know she did it! Oh, of course she knows it, in a way. She knows she taught them to play the glad game with her, and that they are lots happier in consequence. And thatâs all right. Itâs a gameâ âher game, and theyâre playing it together. To you I will admit that Pollyanna has preached to us one of the most powerful sermons I ever heard; but the minute she knows itâ âwell, I donât want her to. Thatâs all. And right now let me tell you that Iâve decided that I will go to Germany with you this fall. At first I thought I wouldnât. I didnât want to leave Pollyannaâ âand Iâm not going to leave her now. Iâm going to take her with me.â
âTake her with us? Good! Why not?â
âIâve got to. Thatâs all. Furthermore, I should be glad to plan to stay a few years, just as you said youâd like to. I want to get Pollyanna away, quite away from Beldingsville for a while. Iâd like to keep her sweet and unspoiled, if I can. And she shall not get silly notions into her head if I can help myself. Why, Thomas Chilton, do we want that child made an insufferable little prig?â
âWe certainly donât,â laughed the doctor. âBut, for that matter, I donât believe anything or anybody could make her so. However, this Germany idea suits me to a T. You know I didnât want to come away when I didâ âif it hadnât been for Pollyanna. So the sooner we get back there the better Iâm satisfied. And Iâd like to stayâ âfor a little practice, as well as study.â
âThen thatâs settled.â And Aunt Polly gave a satisfied sigh.
XVI When Pollyanna Was ExpectedAll Beldingsville was fairly aquiver with excitement. Not since Pollyanna Whittier came home from the Sanatorium, walking, had there been such a chatter of talk over backyard fences and on every street corner. Today, too, the center of interest was Pollyanna. Once again Pollyanna was coming homeâ âbut so different a Pollyanna, and so different a homecoming!
Pollyanna was twenty now. For six years she had spent her winters in Germany, her summers leisurely traveling with Dr. Chilton and his wife. Only once during that time had she been in Beldingsville, and then it was for but a short four weeks the summer she was sixteen. Now she was coming homeâ âto stay, report said; she and her Aunt Polly.
The doctor would not be with them. Six months before, the town had been shocked and saddened by the news that the doctor had died suddenly. Beldingsville had expected then that Mrs. Chilton and Pollyanna would return at once to the old home. But they had not come. Instead had come word that the widow and her niece would remain abroad for a time. The report said that, in entirely new surroundings, Mrs. Chilton was trying to seek distraction and relief from her great sorrow.
Very soon, however, vague rumors, and rumors not so vague, began to float through the town that, financially, all was not well with Mrs. Polly Chilton. Certain railroad stocks, in which it was known that the Harrington estate had been heavily interested, wavered uncertainly, then tumbled into ruin and disaster. Other investments, according to report, were in a most precarious condition. From the doctorâs estate, little could be expected. He had not been a rich man, and his expenses had been heavy for the past six years. Beldingsville was not surprised, therefore, when, not quite six months after the doctorâs death, word came that Mrs. Chilton and Pollyanna were coming home.
Once more the old Harrington homestead, so long closed and silent, showed up-flung windows and wide-open doors. Once more Nancyâ ânow Mrs. Timothy Durginâ âswept and scrubbed and dusted until the
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