Page 123 - pollyanna

me down here but the Ladies’ Aid; so she took me.’
The man did not answer. His face, as he lay back on the
pillow now, was very white—so white that Pollyanna was
frightened. She rose uncertainly to her feet.
‘I reckon maybe I’d better go now,’ she proposed. ‘I—I
hope you’ll like—the jelly.’
The man turned his head suddenly, and opened his eyes.
There was a curious longing in their dark depths which even
Pollyanna saw, and at which she marvelled.
‘And so you are—Miss Polly Harrington’s niece,’ he said
gently.
‘Yes, sir.’
Still the man’s dark eyes lingered on her face, until Pol-
lyanna, feeling vaguely restless, murmured:
‘I—I suppose you know—her.’
John Pendleton’s lips curved in an odd smile.
‘Oh, yes; I know her.’ He hesitated, then went on, still
with that curious smile. ‘But—you don’t mean—you can’t
mean that it was Miss Polly Harrington who sent that jelly—
to me?’ he said slowly,
Pollyanna looked distressed.
‘N-no, sir: she didn’t. She said I must be very sure not to
let you think she did send it. But I—‘
‘I thought as much,’ vouchsafed the man, shortly, turning
away his head. And Pollyanna, still more distressed, tiptoed
from the room.
Under the porte-cochere she found the doctor waiting in
his gig. The nurse stood on the steps.
‘Well, Miss Pollyanna, may I have the pleasure of seeing

1 Pollyanna