“Now what shall we do?” she questioned, atop of the announcement. “Colonel Gresham says we can all come over there.”
Dr. Dudley laughed. So did his wife, but she grew grave almost at once.
“Very likely we can stay on just the same,” was the Doctor’s cheerful opinion. “Martin Clapp isn’t going to give up his new home and move his family in here; so don’t worry about it.”
It was as Dr. Dudley prophesied, the tenants could remain, but with this difference,—the rent was raised five dollars a month. The Doctor made light of it; still Polly knew by her mother’s face that it would mean a harder pinch on other things.
If only they hadn’t bought that new tire! It was delightful to be riding again in the Colonel’s beautiful present, yet the shadow that often she detected on her mother’s face she attributed to this new trouble, and it worried her. What made it worse, she worried in secret. The thought intruded while she was playing with Leonora and David, it haunted her dreams by night. She began to wonder again if she ought to have gone to live with Uncle Maurice. The question was still undecided when something occurred that seemed to make matters clearer.
She had been up to Mrs. Jocelyn’s and was returning home late in the afternoon. As she came in view of the hospital she noticed a small boy standing by the gate. On nearer approach the lad’s delicate profile grew familiar, and suddenly she darted forward, crying joyfully:—
“Chris! Oh, Chris!”
He turned weakly, took a step to meet her, and then throwing out his hands dropped to the sidewalk.
With a little scream, Polly was down beside him, moaning:—