Pollyanna Grows Up Eleanor H. Porter (booksvooks .TXT) đ
- Author: Eleanor H. Porter
Book online «Pollyanna Grows Up Eleanor H. Porter (booksvooks .TXT) đ». Author Eleanor H. Porter
âI should say not!â ejaculated the young fellow.
Once more he glanced down at the expressive face so near him. This time a queer look came to the corners of his mouth. He pursed his lips, then spoke, a slow red mounting to his forehead.
âWell, of course you mightâ âmarry. Have you thought of thatâ âMiss Pollyanna?â
Pollyanna gave a merry laugh. Voice and manner were unmistakably those of a girl quite untouched by even the most far-reaching of Cupidâs darts.
âOh, no, I shall never marry,â she said blithely. âIn the first place Iâm not pretty, you know; and in the second place, Iâm going to live with Aunt Polly and take care of her.â
âNot pretty, eh?â smiled Pendleton, quizzically. âDid it everâ âerâ âoccur to you that there might be a difference of opinion on that, Pollyanna?â
Pollyanna shook her head.
âThere couldnât be. Iâve got a mirror, you see,â she objected, with a merry glance.
It sounded like coquetry. In any other girl it would have been coquetry, Pendleton decided. But, looking into the face before him now, Pendleton knew that it was not coquetry. He knew, too, suddenly, why Pollyanna had seemed so different from any girl he had ever known. Something of her old literal way of looking at things still clung to her.
âWhy arenât you pretty?â he asked.
Even as he uttered the question, and sure as he was of his estimate of Pollyannaâs character, Pendleton quite held his breath at his temerity. He could not help thinking of how quickly any other girl he knew would have resented that implied acceptance of her claim to no beauty. But Pollyannaâs first words showed him that even this lurking fear of his was quite groundless.
âWhy, I just am not,â she laughed, a little ruefully. âI wasnât made that way. Maybe you donât remember, but long ago, when I was a little girl, it always seemed to me that one of the nicest things Heaven was going to give me when I got there was black curls.â
âAnd is that your chief desire now?â
âN-no, maybe not,â hesitated Pollyanna. âBut I still think Iâd like them. Besides, my eyelashes arenât long enough, and my nose isnât Grecian, or Roman, or any of those delightfully desirable ones that belong to a âtype.â Itâs just nose. And my face is too long, or too short, Iâve forgotten which; but I measured it once with one of those âcorrect-for-beautyâ tests, and it wasnât right, anyhow. And they said the width of the face should be equal to five eyes, and the width of the eyes equal toâ âto something else. Iâve forgotten that, tooâ âonly that mine wasnât.â
âWhat a lugubrious picture!â laughed Pendleton. Then, with his gaze admiringly regarding the girlâs animated face and expressive eyes, he asked:
âDid you ever look in the mirror when you were talking, Pollyanna?â
âWhy, no, of course not!â
âWell, youâd better try it sometime.â
âWhat a funny idea! Imagine my doing it,â laughed the girl. âWhat shall I say? Like this? âNow, you, Pollyanna, what if your eyelashes arenât long, and your nose is just a nose, be glad youâve got some eyelashes and some nose!âââ
Pendleton joined in her laugh, but an odd expression came to his face.
âThen you still playâ âthe game,â he said, a little diffidently.
Pollyanna turned soft eyes of wonder full upon him.
âWhy, of course! Why, Jimmy, I donât believe I could have livedâ âthe last six monthsâ âif it hadnât been for that blessed game.â Her voice shook a little.
âI havenât heard you say much about it,â he commented.
She changed color.
âI know. I think Iâm afraidâ âof saying too muchâ âto outsiders, who donât care, you know. It wouldnât sound quite the same from me now, at twenty, as it did when I was ten. I realize that, of course. Folks donât like to be preached at, you know,â she finished with a whimsical smile.
âI know,â nodded the young fellow gravely. âBut I wonder sometimes, Pollyanna, if you really understand yourself what that game is, and what it has done for those who are playing it.â
âI knowâ âwhat it has done for myself.â Her voice was low, and her eyes were turned away.
âYou see, it really works, if you play it,â he mused aloud, after a short silence. âSomebody said once that it would revolutionize the world if everybody would really play it. And I believe it would.â
âYes; but some folks donât want to be revolutionized,â smiled Pollyanna. âI ran across a man in Germany last year. He had lost his money, and was in hard luck generally. Dear, dear, but he was gloomy! Somebody in my presence tried to cheer him up one day by saying, âCome, come, things might be worse, you know!â Dear, dear, but you should have heard that man then!
âââIf there is anything on earth that makes me mad clear through,â he snarled, âit is to be told that things might be worse, and to be thankful for what Iâve got left. These people who go around with an everlasting grin on their faces caroling forth that they are thankful that they can breathe, or eat, or walk, or lie down, I have no use for. I donât want to breathe, or eat, or walk, or lie downâ âif things are as they are now with me. And when Iâm told that I ought to be thankful for some such tommyrot as that, it makes me just want to go out and shoot somebody!âââ
âImagine what IâD have gotten if Iâd have introduced the glad game to that man!â laughed Pollyanna.
âI donât care. He needed it,â answered Jimmy.
âOf course he didâ âbut he wouldnât have thanked me for giving it to him.â
âI suppose not. But, listen! As he was, under his present philosophy and scheme of living, he made himself and everybody else wretched, didnât he? Well, just suppose he was playing the game. While he was trying to hunt up something to be glad about in everything that had happened
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