Pollyanna Eleanor H. Porter (classic english novels txt) đ
- Author: Eleanor H. Porter
Book online «Pollyanna Eleanor H. Porter (classic english novels txt) đ». Author Eleanor H. Porter
âDr. Warren, you asked me once to allow Dr. Chilton to be called in consultation, andâ âI refused. Since then I have reconsidered. I very much desire that you should call in Dr. Chilton. Will you not ask him at onceâ âplease? Thank you.â
XXXI A New UncleThe next time Dr. Warren entered the chamber where Pollyanna lay watching the dancing shimmer of color on the ceiling, a tall, broad-shouldered man followed close behind him.
âDr. Chilton!â âoh, Dr. Chilton, how glad I am to see you!â cried Pollyanna. And at the joyous rapture of the voice, more than one pair of eyes in the room brimmed hot with sudden tears. âBut, of course, if Aunt Polly doesnât wantâ ââ
âIt is all right, my dear; donât worry,â soothed Miss Polly, agitatedly, hurrying forward. âI have told Dr. Chilton thatâ âthat I want him to look you overâ âwith Dr. Warren, this morning.â
âOh, then you asked him to come,â murmured Pollyanna, contentedly.
âYes, dear, I asked him. That isâ ââ But it was too late. The adoring happiness that had leaped to Dr. Chiltonâs eyes was unmistakable and Miss Polly had seen it. With very pink cheeks she turned and left the room hurriedly.
Over in the window the nurse and Dr. Warren were talking earnestly. Dr. Chilton held out both his hands to Pollyanna.
âLittle girl, Iâm thinking that one of the very gladdest jobs you ever did has been done today,â he said in a voice shaken with emotion.
At twilight a wonderfully tremulous, wonderfully different Aunt Polly crept to Pollyannaâs bedside. The nurse was at supper. They had the room to themselves.
âPollyanna, dear, Iâm going to tell youâ âthe very first one of all. Some day Iâm going to give Dr. Chilton to you for yourâ âuncle. And itâs you that have done it all. Oh, Pollyanna, Iâm soâ âhappy! And soâ âglad!â âdarling!â
Pollyanna began to clap her hands; but even as she brought her small palms together the first time, she stopped, and held them suspended.
âAunt Polly, Aunt Polly, were you the womanâs hand and heart he wanted so long ago? You wereâ âI know you were! And thatâs what he meant by saying Iâd done the gladdest job of allâ âtoday. Iâm so glad! Why, Aunt Polly, I donât know but Iâm so glad that I donât mindâ âeven my legs, now!â
Aunt Polly swallowed a sob.
âPerhaps, some day, dearâ ââ But Aunt Polly did not finish. Aunt Polly did not dare to tell, yet, the great hope that Dr. Chilton had put into her heart. But she did say thisâ âand surely this was quite wonderful enoughâ âto Pollyannaâs mind:
âPollyanna, next week youâre going to take a journey. On a nice comfortable little bed youâre going to be carried in cars and carriages to a great doctor who has a big house many miles from here made on purpose for just such people as you are. Heâs a dear friend of Dr. Chiltonâs, and weâre going to see what he can do for you!â
XXXII Which Is a Letter from PollyannaâDear Aunt Polly and Uncle Tom:â âOh, I canâ âI canâ âI can walk! I did today all the way from my bed to the window! It was six steps. My, how good it was to be on legs again!
âAll the doctors stood around and smiled, and all the nurses stood beside of them and cried. A lady in the next ward who walked last week first, peeked into the door, and another one who hopes she can walk next month, was invited in to the party, and she laid on my nurseâs bed and clapped her hands. Even Black Tilly who washes the floor, looked through the piazza window and called me âHoney, childâ when she wasnât crying too much to call me anything.
âI donât see why they cried. I wanted to sing and shout and yell! Ohâ âohâ âoh! just think, I can walkâ âwalkâ âwalk! Now I donât mind being here almost ten months, and I didnât miss the wedding, anyhow. Wasnât that just like you, Aunt Polly, to come on here and get married right beside my bed, so I could see you. You always do think of the gladdest things!
âPretty soon, they say, I shall go home. I wish I could walk all the way there. I do. I donât think I shall ever want to ride anywhere any more. It will be so good just to walk. Oh, Iâm so glad! Iâm glad for everything. Why, Iâm glad now I lost my legs for a while, for you never, never know how perfectly lovely legs are till you havenât got themâ âthat go, I mean. Iâm going to walk eight steps tomorrow.
âWith heaps of love to everybody,
âPollyanna.â
ColophonPollyanna
was published in 1913 by
Eleanor H. Porter.
This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
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Paul King,
and is based on a transcription produced in 1998 by
Charles Keller and David Widger
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans available at the
Internet Archive.
The cover page is adapted from
Young Girl with a Parasol (Aline NunĂšs),
a painting completed in 1883 by
Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
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