"I LOVE YOU, DAVID!"
Polly happened to answer the doorbell when David rang.
"Hallo, David!" she said brightly.
His face was troubled.
"Is your father at home?"
"Why, yes,--that is, he is in the hospital somewhere. Who is sick?"
"Aunt Juliet, and she won't have anybody but Dr. Dudley. We've
been trying to get him by telephone, and finally they thought I'd
better come up. Otto brought me, and he'll take the Doctor back."
"Oh, the hospital telephones are out of commission, so they're
using ours about all the time. Sit down, and I'll find him."
From ward to ward went Polly, following the Doctor. She caught him
at last on the upper floor, and he drove off with Colonel Gresham's
man.
"Stay a while, can't you, David?" invited Polly. "You'll have to
walk home anyway, and there's no need of your hurrying."
"They may want me," he hesitated, fingering his cap.
"No, they won't! There are plenty to take care of Mrs. Gresham. I
haven't seen you in an age."
David's face reddened. "I've--been pretty busy," he faltered in
excuse.
Polly ignored his embarrassment. "I am sorry for Mrs. Gresham.
She's not very sick, is she?"
"I'm afraid she is. She was in terrible pain when I left home."
"I guess father'll fix her up all right," said Polly comfortably.
David smiled. Polly's faith in her father was a standing joke
among her friends.
"Oh, you may laugh!" she cried. "It doesn't disturb me a mite. He
pulled you out of a tight place once."
"Yes, he did," agreed the boy. "I presume I have about as much
faith in him as you have."
They talked for a while in commonplaces. David seemed interested
in nothing. He grew restless and once or twice said something
about going home. Still he stayed. Finally he got up. Then
suddenly he sat down and with a visible effort said huskily, "I
suppose you think I'm a brute!"
"Oh, no, David!" returned Polly quietly; "but I think you're a
little bit foolish."
His cheeks flushed angrily. "Oh, foolish, is it! Pray, what have
I done?"
"M--m, not so very much, except to ignore me, when we've always
been such good friends."
"It's your own fault!" David's temper was getting the mastery.
"Going round with another boy and not paying me any attention at
all!"
"Don't let's quarrel, David! I suppose you mean Doodles, and it
does seem so silly for you to be jealous of that little boy!"
"You played all his accompaniments, and you didn't play for me,"
said David in an aggrieved tone.
"He asked me, and you didn't. You know he hasn't had a piano very
long and can't play as you can. But I would have gladly played for
you if I had known you wanted me."
The boy said nothing, and Polly resumed.
"You act as if I belonged to you and mustn't look at another boy."
"You do belong to me!" he declared.
"Since when?" laughed Polly.
"Since the first day I saw you," replied David doggedly.
"Oh!" she smiled. "I never knew it! But I don't make a fuss
because you call on Patricia or go round with Leonora."
"Of course you don't! You wouldn't mind if I went with forty
girls! You don't care a rap for me." His face was gloomy.
"Oh, David! what do you want me to do?--hang round you all the time
and say, 'David, I love you! David, it's true! David, I'll love you
all my life through'?"
"Go on!" he said fiercely, "make all the fun you like! It is fun
to you, but with me it's life or death!"
"David!"
"You know I never cared for any other girl! You know you are my
world! And yet you deliberately make fun of me!"
Polly's dimples vanished. "No, David, I am not making fun of you,
but only of your foolishness--"
"Oh, yes, I suppose it's foolish for me to love you as I do when
you don't care a straw--"
"Wait! wait!" she interrupted. "I don't mean that at all, and you
know it! But for a great, tall fellow like you to be so
unreasonably jealous of a little ten-year-old does seem absurd. I
love Doodles, of course; everybody does. But, David, you ought to
know that's all there is to it."
"He says he's going to marry you!"
Polly laughed outright. "I never heard anything about it before,
so I guess I wouldn't let it worry me, David." She chuckled.
"Whatever made him say that! He's a funny little chap!"
"Will you marry me?" David asked abruptly.
Polly's dimples came and went. "Do you mean right off?" she
queried soberly. "I rather want to go to school a little longer."
"There you are again!" he grumbled. "You can't take anything in
earnest! I may as well go home!"
"But, David, the idea of asking me such a question! And I only
thirteen! Can't you see how silly it is?"
"No, I can't! It's the only way to make sure of you! Some other
fellow will get ahead of me!"
"No other fellow has yet, David." Polly's voice was sweet and
serious.
"Do you mean that," he asked, "honestly?"
"Of course. You know I have always liked you better than any other
boy!"
"You like me, but you love Doodles," he mused.
Polly laughed softly. "Oh, dear!" she sighed, "will nothing
satisfy you? Well, then,"--she was blushing almost to tears,--"I
love you, David! I--I think it's mean for you to make me say
it!--I--love you better than any other boy I ever saw!" She flung
the last words at him with a show of vexation that David could not
withstand.
He grinned.
"And now--you laugh at me!" She sprang up and started past him;
but he caught her in his arms.
"Polly! Polly! Dear Polly!" he said tenderly. "Forgive me! I am
a pig! But to tell me I was mean and that you loved me--all in the
same breath! Now say I'm contemptible--or anything! I'll agree to
it!"
"Well, you ought to--you are!" she half sobbed, half laughed. Her
face was hidden on his shoulder.
Suddenly she threw up her head and started back. "Let me go!" she
whispered. "It is ridiculous to stand here like this." She pulled
away from him and retreated to her chair.
"I don't see why we can't be engaged," said David. "Promise that
you'll marry me, Polly!"
"Oh!" she cried, "I thirteen, and you just fifteen! What a pair of
ninnies we should be! David, if you want to keep me, you must let
me go free! I shall be sixteen when I'm through high school, and
there'll be four years of college. Then--perhaps--! Time enough
for that sort of thing after we're twenty!"
David looked at her with smiling eyes, yet he said, "I'm afraid I
shan't feel very sure of you."
"You're a funny David!" laughed Polly. "I say, let's forget all
this, and just be a boy and girl having a good time!"
"Forget that we love each other, Polly?"
"No, no! but take that for granted, and let it drop!"
"I guess you'll have to teach me how," David laughed.
"All right! Come sing me that song I saw you buying at the music
store the other day!"
When David left the house, he stopped on the threshold to finish
what he was saying. Then, suddenly, he caught Polly's hands,
pressed a kiss squarely on her lips, and sped away.
"David Collins!" she cried.
But David was already down the steps. He looked back with a
radiant bow.