“Well, I shan’t!” she burst out. “The idea! They might know I wouldn’t. Did you s’pose I’d want to?” she queried. “Did you, mother?”
Mrs. Dudley shook her head.
“Let me tell you what Mrs. Illingworth says,” the Doctor went on. “She thinks she can give you greater advantages than I can—of education, society, and travel.”
“Travel!” Polly cried scornfully; “I don’t want to travel anywhere! Why isn’t Miss Townsend’s school as good for me as it is for Patricia and David? And I guess society at The Trowbridge isn’t any better than it is here!”
The Doctor and his wife laughed. Mrs. Dudley’s arms tightened their clasp.
“You haven’t heard all,” the Doctor resumed. “Mrs. Illingworth offers you a thousand dollars, to use exactly as you choose, if you will come.”
The indignant blood rushed to Polly’s fair face.
“Do I look as if I were for sale?” she demanded. “Do I?”
Mrs. Dudley drew her down for a kiss and a “Polly, darling!”
“I haven’t noticed any price tag,” her father responded, twinkling.