Page 193 - pollyanna

the drawn face opposite, twisted with emotion. Involuntari-
ly his thoughts went back to what Pollyanna had said when
he had made his final plea for her presence: ‘Oh, I couldn’t
leave Aunt Polly—now!’
It was this thought that made him ask very gently, as
soon as he could control his voice:
‘I wonder if you know, Miss Harrington, how hard I tried
to get Pollyanna to come and live with me.’
‘With YOU!—Pollyanna!’
The man winced a little at the tone of her voice; but his
own voice was still impersonally cool when he spoke again.
‘Yes. I wanted to adopt her—legally, you understand;
making her my heir, of course.’
The woman in the opposite chair relaxed a little. It came
to her, suddenly, what a brilliant future it would have meant
for Pollyanna—this adoption; and she wondered if Pollyan-
na were old enough and mercenary enough—to be tempted
by this man’s money and position.
‘I am very fond of Pollyanna,’ the man was continuing. ‘I
am fond of her both for her own sake, and for—her moth-
er’s. I stood ready to give Pollyanna the love that had been
twenty-five years in storage.’
‘LOVE.’ Miss Polly remembered suddenly why SHE had
taken this child in the first place—and with the recollection
came the remembrance of Pollyanna’s own words uttered
that very morning: ‘I love to be called ‘dear’ by folks that be-
long to you!’ And it was this love-hungry little girl that had
been offered the stored-up affection of twenty-five years:—
and she was old enough to be tempted by love! With a

1 Pollyanna