Page 165 - pollyanna

afternoon’s umbrella-sending—Nancy only welcomed the
question with open arms. She was sure that, with a clean
conscience to-day, she could set the love-hungry little girl’s
heart at rest.
‘Likes ter have ye here? Would she miss ye if ye wa’n’t
here?’ cried Nancy, indignantly. ‘As if that wa’n’t jest what
I was tellin’ of ye! Didn’t she send me posthaste with an
umbrella ‘cause she see a little cloud in the sky? Didn’t she
make me tote yer things all down-stairs, so you could have
the pretty room you wanted? Why, Miss Pollyanna, when
ye remember how at first she hated ter have—‘
With a choking cough Nancy pulled herself up just in
time.
‘And it ain’t jest things I can put my fingers on, neither,’
rushed on Nancy, breathlessly. ‘It’s little ways she has, that
shows how you’ve been softenin’ her up an’ mellerin’ her
down—the cat, and the dog, and the way she speaks ter me,
and oh, lots o’ things. Why, Miss Pollyanna, there ain’t no
tellin’ how she’d miss ye—if ye wa’n’t here,’ finished Nan-
cy, speaking with an enthusiastic certainty that was meant
to hide the perilous admission she had almost made before.
Even then she was not quite prepared for the sudden joy
that illumined Pollyanna’s face.
‘Oh, Nancy, I’m so glad—glad—glad! You don’t know
how glad I am that Aunt Polly—wants me!’
‘As if I’d leave her now!’ thought Pollyanna, as she
climbed the stairs to her room a little later. ‘I always knew I
wanted to live with Aunt Polly—but I reckon maybe I didn’t
know quite how much I wanted Aunt Polly—to want to live

1 Pollyanna