Pollyanna Grows Up | Page 8

her sister."

Mrs. Chilton drew in her breath and bit her lip.
"But, Pollyanna, dear, you must not expect that they'll be quite alike,"
she ventured.
"Why, they're SISTERS, Aunt Polly," argued the little girl, her eyes
widening; "and I thought sisters were always alike. We had two sets of
'em in the Ladies' Aiders. One set was twins, and THEY were so alike
you couldn't tell which was Mrs. Peck and which was Mrs. Jones, until
a wart grew on Mrs. Jones's nose, then of course we could, because we
looked for the wart the first thing. And that's what I told her one day
when she was complaining that people called her Mrs. Peck, and I said
if they'd only look for the wart as I did, they'd know right off. But she
acted real cross--I mean displeased, and I'm afraid she didn't like
it--though I don't see why; for I should have thought she'd been glad
there was something they could be told apart by, 'specially as she was
the president, and didn't like it when folks didn't ACT as if she was the
president--best seats and introductions and special attentions at church
suppers, you know. But she didn't, and afterwards I heard Mrs. White
tell Mrs. Rawson that Mrs. Jones had done everything she could think
of to get rid of that wart, even to trying to put salt on a bird's tail. But I
don't see how THAT could do any good. Aunt Polly, DOES putting salt
on a bird's tail help the warts on people's noses?"
"Of course not, child! How you do run on, Pollyanna, especially if you
get started on those Ladies' Aiders!"
"Do I, Aunt Polly?" asked the little girl, ruefully. "And does it plague
you? I don't mean to plague you, honestly, Aunt Polly. And, anyway, if
I do plague you about those Ladies' Aiders, you can be kind o' glad, for
if I'm thinking of the Aiders, I'm sure to be thinking how glad I am that
I don't belong to them any longer, but have got an aunt all my own.
You can be glad of that, can't you, Aunt Polly?"
"Yes, yes, dear, of course I can, of course I can," laughed Mrs. Chilton,
rising to leave the room, and feeling suddenly very guilty that she was
conscious sometimes of a little of her old irritation against Pollyanna's
perpetual gladness.

During the next few days, while letters concerning Pollyanna's winter
stay in Boston were flying back and forth, Pollyanna herself was
preparing for that stay by a series of farewell visits to her Beldingsville
friends.
Everybody in the little Vermont village knew Pollyanna now, and
almost everybody was playing the game with her. The few who were
not, were not refraining because of ignorance of what the glad game
was. So to one house after another Pollyanna carried the news now that
she was going down to Boston to spend the winter; and loudly rose the
clamor of regret and remonstrance, all the way from Nancy in Aunt
Polly's own kitchen to the great house on the hill where lived John
Pendleton.
Nancy did not hesitate to say--to every one except her mistress--that
SHE considered this Boston trip all foolishness, and that for her part
she would have been glad to take Miss Pollyanna home with her to the
Corners, she would, she would; and then Mrs. Polly could have gone to
Germany all she wanted to.
On the hill John Pendleton said practically the same thing, only he did
not hesitate to say it to Mrs. Chilton herself. As for Jimmy, the
twelve-year-old boy whom John Pendleton had taken into his home
because Pollyanna wanted him to, and whom he had now
adopted--because he wanted to himself--as for Jimmy, Jimmy was
indignant, and he was not slow to show it.
"But you've just come," he reproached Pollyanna, in the tone of voice a
small boy is apt to use when he wants to hide the fact that he has a
heart.
"Why, I've been here ever since the last of March. Besides, it isn't as if
I was going to stay. It's only for this winter."
"I don't care. You've just been away for a whole year, 'most, and if I'd
s'posed you was going away again right off, the first thing, I wouldn't
have helped one mite to meet you with flags and bands and things, that
day you come from the Sanatorium."

"Why, Jimmy Bean!" ejaculated Pollyanna, in amazed disapproval.
Then, with a touch of superiority born of hurt pride, she observed: "I'm
sure I didn't ASK you to meet me with bands and things--and you made
two mistakes in that sentence. You shouldn't say 'you was'; and I think
'you come' is wrong. It doesn't sound