POLLY'S DARK DAY.
The next Monday noon, Polly stood on the top of a tall step-
ladder, with the hose in her hand, washing off the parlor blinds.
It was a warm, clear day, so warm that there was no possible
discomfort in her work, and yet Polly was in a state of great
disgust over her present employment. If it had been the back
blinds, even! But to Polly, it seemed that her position on the
ladder, within full view of the street, was extremely undignified,
and she had protested vigorously when her mother sent her out.
"It won't take but a few minutes, Polly," Mrs. Adams had said;
"and they need it badly. There's no knowing when we shall have
another day that is warm enough, so run right out and do it now."
Polly went, for she dared not disobey; but she went with a
frowning face, and after she had slammed the door behind her, she
further freed her mind by remarking, with incautious emphasis,--
"I don't care, I think it's too mean!"
Of course Aunt Jane chanced to be passing along through the hall,
just then. She stopped directly in Polly's pathway and said, with
deliberate, cutting severity,--
"Think your mamma is mean! Why, Polly Adams, I am surprised at
you! I shall feel it my duty to speak to your mother about this."
Then Polly lost all self-control.
"I think you're meaner than she is!" And the outside door hanged
even more loudly than the other had done.
By the time she was on the steps, Polly longed to sit down and
cry. Her temples were throbbing violently, and her throat felt
swollen and aching. There were days when everything seemed to go
wrong, she thought desperately; she had gone to school feeling so
happy, that morning, but she had torn her gown at recess, and had
failed in her history lesson, and now she must go out and wash
those hateful old blinds. Well, some day when she was all nicely
dead of overwork and too many scoldings, she knew they'd be sorry.
Who the _they_ in question were, she did not stop to analyze,
but, forcing back the angry tears, she went away in search of the
step-ladder. Soon she returned, dragging it after her and bumping
it with unnecessary force against all the trees and corners of the
house in her way, and, planting it in position, she slowly mounted
to the top, hose in hand. She was just balanced up there, when she
saw Alan come in through the gate.
"Hullo! What you up to, Poll?" he called.
"I should think you might be able to see for yourself," replied
Polly, with dignity.
Alan surveyed her in astonishment, then asked,--
"Can't I help you?"
"No!" snapped Polly shortly.
The boy gave a long, low whistle, the meaning of which was so
obvious as to be anything but soothing to Polly's ruffled
feelings.
"Got a pain in your temper? Didn't you sleep well last night?" he
inquired, with mock sympathy.
Polly vouchsafed no reply.
"Perhaps you lay awake to write another poem," he went on. "How
was it, it went: 'The children went chestnutting--'?"
What unlucky chance had implanted in Alan's mind the spirit of
teasing, and in Polly's, at the same moment, the spirit of
perversity? What ever was the cause, the result was the same; and
Polly, in her present mood, could not endure this slighting
reference to her poem which she had fondly imagined was a secret
between Molly and herself. Her face grew white to the very lips,
as she faced the lad below.
"Alan Hapgood!" she exclaimed; "what right have you to say so? If
you don't keep still, I'll turn the water on you."
"All right," said the boy composedly, never dreaming how excited
she really was; "fire ahead, if 'twill give you any satisfaction.
I suppose poets are always rather peppery."
The next instant, the strong, full jet of icy cold water struck
him directly in the chest. Polly's aim was accurate, the force of
the water great, so a few seconds had drenched the boy from his
neck to his shoes. How long it might have lasted was uncertain,
but a hasty misstep sent Polly head foremost to the ground, where
she lay for an instant, stunned by her fall. Unmindful of his
wetting, Alan ran to her side.
"Polly, are you hurt? Where is it?" he exclaimed.
But Polly sprang up fiercely.
"Go away, Alan! You needn't come here again till I send for you."
And she ran into the house, and up to the safe refuge of her own
room.
Once there, in quiet and alone, she quickly came to her senses and
realized, with a horrible fear, all that she had done, all that it
might yet do. It was her first serious quarrel with Alan, and for
such a little cause she had turned upon her favorite companion.
And then, with his rheumatism, what effect would the wetting have
on him? Filled with this unbearable anxiety, she submitted to her
mother's reproof for her words to Aunt Jane, without making any
attempt to excuse herself, and silently left the house, without
telling the secret of her last, worst outbreak. Lessons had begun,
when she entered the schoolroom, and as she seated herself, she
stole a quick glance at Alan's place. It was vacant.
She had no opportunity to see Molly alone, that afternoon, and no
mention of Alan was made. After school, she walked quickly home
without waiting for the girls, and taking up a book, she sat for
an hour, not speaking, not reading a word, but with her eyes fixed
on the roof of the Hapgood house, going over and over the scenes
of the noon, longing to run to Alan and beg his forgiveness, yet
too proud to do so, so soon. How she wanted to tell her mother the
whole story, and ask her how to undo the harm she had done! But
she dreaded to see her mother's shocked, pained face, so she held
her peace. The long hours till bedtime slowly dragged away, and
for once Polly went up-stairs without her usual goodnight talk.
But, for some reason, sleep would not come to her, even then.
Instead of that, she lay with wide-open eyes, staring into the
darkness and picturing Alan as she saw him turn away, with the
cold water dripping from his clothing. Suddenly she heard the bell
ring sharply, violently. Springing out of bed, she stole
noiselessly to the head of the stairs to listen, sure that it was
a message of bad news. She was not mistaken, for she heard Molly's
voice saying hurriedly,--
"Can Dr. Adams come right away? Alan is terribly ill."
Yes, he was ill, and perhaps he was going to die, and she had done
it! Polly fled desperately back to bed and, pulling the blankets
tightly over her head to smother the sound, she burst out crying
as she had never before cried, in her life, crying with shame for
herself and sorrow for her boy friend.
As soon as her first outburst was over, she raised herself on her
elbow and strained her ears to listen for the sound of her
father's return, convinced that he must and would bring good news.
It was nothing serious, she reasoned, they were unnecessarily
alarmed, for it would be too unjust for Alan to be ill, when she
alone had been the one to blame.
It was long that her father was gone. A dozen times Polly had been
sure that she heard his steps, but the moments dragged on and on,
without bringing him. At length the door opened and he entered.
Polly was out of bed in an instant and crouching at the head of
the stairs, shivering with cold and fear, while she waited to hear
his first words to her mother. She thought he would never get his
coat off and go into the parlor. When he did, she heard something
that seemed to stop her breath.
"I've only just pulled Alan through, to-night," the doctor was
saying to his wife. "When I went in, I thought there wasn't much
chance for him; but the worst is over, for the present."
"What was it?" asked his wife anxiously.
"Acute pneumonia, as much as anything," answered the doctor; "but
it's mixed up with his rheumatism till he's a poor, forlorn little
bundle of aches and pains. They sent for me just in time, too. If
they'd waited till morning, we should have lost our Alan."
"What brought it on?" asked Mrs. Adams, and her voice was a little
unsteady as she spoke.
"That is the strangest part of it," replied her husband. "He came
in this noon, dripping wet, and Mrs. Hapgood hasn't been able to
make him tell what had happened."
"Oh, mamma!"
The doctor and his wife both started up, at the sound of the
strange, stifled voice. In the door directly behind them stood
Polly, barefooted and with her teeth chattering violently, while
her face was so swollen with tears as to be almost unrecogizable.
"Polly!"
Mrs. Adams sprang towards her, but Polly waved her off.
"Don't touch me, mamma! Don't kiss me, till you know all about it,
what I've done! I'm to blame about Alan."
Without speaking Mrs. Adams caught up the afghan from the sofa and
wrapped it closely about her daughter. Then, leading her to the
bright wood fire, she sat down before it and took Polly into her
lap, as if she had been a little child. The gentleness of her
manner, the unspoken sympathy for some trouble which she did not
yet know, had started Polly's tears to flowing again, and for a
long time she could only cling to her mother and sob, with her
head against the soft, warm cheek and a loving arm about her
shoulders.
For some moments, the quiet of the room was only broken by the
measured ticking of the clock on the mantel and the snapping of
the fire on the andirons. At length Mrs. Adams said gently,--
"Now, Polly, tell me all about it."
And Polly told, sparing herself in no way, but giving all the
details with a merciless truthfulness, and ending, with a sob,--
"And after all that, mamma, he tried to help me up when I fell,
and I drove him off, and now--Oh, what shall I do! Scold me, if
you want to; you ought to! I tried to tell you before, but I
couldn't."
Mrs. Adams's arms grew tighter about her daughter, while she said
gravely, very gravely,--
"Polly, dear, I am much too sorry for you, to scold you."
As she spoke, the doctor rose quietly and left the room, for he
felt that what would follow was for mother and daughter alone, and
even he had no right to sit by and listen to their words.
"I am sorry for you, dear," her mother went on, after a moment;
"not so much for what you are suffering now, as I am because,
little by little, you have let your temper get the better of you
until to-day, for just this trifle, you have forgotten yourself
entirely. The pain you have borne tonight on Alan's account is
only a blessing to you, the natural punishment for what you have
done, and it will help you to remember this another time, when you
are angry. Each one of these fits of temper leaves a scar, Polly,
that nothing can ever entirely heal; and I want no such scars on
my Polly's womanhood, which must be above reproach. You are very
dear to me, my daughter, and my whole life is bound up in my hopes
for your future."
"Oh, how can I remember!" sobbed Polly. "It is all over, so in a
minute, and then I just hate myself, but it doesn't do the least
bit of good."
"It can't be done in a day, Polly; it will take years and years;
perhaps it may be the work of a whole lifetime. But if, by
watching yourself and struggling to keep back the quick words that
come to you, after long years you could cure this temper, wouldn't
the 'well done' be yours just as truly as if, for instance, you
went on some mission abroad? It is often far more to rule
yourself, than it is to spend your life working among the poor and
wicked, and takes more courage and selfdenial. That may be the
work which is laid out for my little daughter, and I pray that she
may do it bravely and well, so that in time I may be as proud and
happy in my Polly as I now am fond of her."
As her mother spoke, she rested her face against Polly's curls,
and one bright tear sparkled among the soft little rings. Then she
resumed,--
"And now, about Alan. I shall not scold you, Polly, for your
punishment has come, as it always does, and is hard enough to
bear, without my adding a word. But the danger was great, and you
have only just escaped the most terrible sorrow that can ever come
to any human being. Still, Alan is very ill, and may be for a
long, long time to come. Anything that you can do, to make up to
him for this, must be at once your duty and your pleasure, and I
know that you will feel it to be so."
The talk lasted for a long time, until the fire burned out into
cold, white ashes, and Polly shivered in her mother's arms. When
she went up-stairs again, Mrs. Adams went with her, and always
after the last quiet words in the dark, silent room, Polly felt a
new reverence for her mother which never left her in the future
years.
Polly went down-stairs to breakfast, the next morning, filled with
gloomy forebodings, for she feared Aunt Jane's sharp glances and
sharper words. But the doctor had had a plain, decided talk with
Miss Roberts, the evening before, and had forbidden her to allude
to Polly's trouble, so for once Aunt Jane held her peace. Soon
after they left the table, Polly appeared before her mother, with
her coat and cap on.
"I'm going, mamma!"
"Where?" inquired Mrs. Adams, in some surprise.
"To Mrs. Hapgood's," answered Polly, nerving herself to speak
steadily. "I think I ought to tell her what I did to Alan, for
he's keeping it a secret to save me, and she ought to know.
Besides, I must hear how he is."
Mrs. Adams made no attempt to dissuade her, and Polly went down
the street, walking more and more slowly as she neared the house,
for she felt her courage fast leaving her. At the gate she paused
to glance up at the window of Alan's room. The shades were drawn
down, and no familiar boy face appeared there, to give her a
welcome. How she dreaded to go in! The cold, raw wind swept past
her, as she stood there, and it seemed to Polly that the day was
strangely in harmony with her life, just then, for the warm,
bright air of the morning before had given place to dull, heavy
clouds which lay in long, low banners along the mountain side. As
she looked up at the window above, she felt a strong, unreasoning
desire to turn again and run away towards home; but just then the
side door below opened softly, and Mrs. Hapgood stepped out on the
piazza.
"Come in, my dear," she said. "I have good news for you; Alan had
a fairly comfortable night, and now he is asleep."
"Oh, Mrs. Hapgood!" And Polly told her the story in an excited,
breathless fashion, with the same unhesitating truth she had shown
in talking to her mother.
If Mrs. Adams had been kind, so was Mrs. Hapgood, as well. She
spoke no word of blame, but gathered the forlorn little figure
into her arms, and soothed and comforted the child with assurances
of her forgiveness and Alan's, too.
"Now, Polly," she said, as she rose, "I must go back up-stairs to
my boy again. And if I were in your place, I would let this matter
rest a secret between ourselves, your parents and Alan. I promise
you that Molly and the other girls shall never know. But I am glad
that you felt you could come and tell me about it. We will hope we
can have Alan down-stairs before many days, and then you must run
in to see him."
Two days later, a note came for Polly, just as she was starting
for school.
"Alan wants to see you," it said; "come in for a few minutes."
Polly needed no second bidding, but hurried away, glad at the
thought of seeing her friend once more. Mrs. Hapgood saw her
coming and met her at the door, to lead her up-stairs to Alan's
room. The boy was propped up with pillows, and his face looked
rather white and worn, but it lighted as Polly entered, and he
stretched out his hand to her eagerly.
"Hullo, Poll!" he exclaimed. "I'm no end glad to see you."
Mrs. Hapgood had left them alone together, but Polly did not stop
to notice that, as she darted impulsively to the bed, saying,--
"Oh, Alan!"
Alan understood, but, being a boy, he only squeezed her hand
between his, as he said lightly,--
"Bother all that stuff, Polly! Molly was mean to tell, and I was
meaner to laugh at you, so I deserved to have my face washed. I
sent for you because I knew you'd hear I was sick and worry about
it. I didn't mean anybody to know, though."
When Mrs. Hapgood came back again, after a few moments, she found
Polly sitting beside the bed, with a happier face than she had
worn since the memorable Monday noon, while Alan looked as
blissful as she; and when Polly took her departure, a little
later, the boy called after her,--
"Come again as soon as you can, Poll. You're a jolly little nurse,
and I like to have you round."