“You did not refuse to get her doll for her, did you?”
“Yes, Mrs. Duer.”
Mrs. Duer’s pale cheeks flushed a little. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m very sorry and disappointed, Polly. That was not like you; it was hardly kind, I think. But I am quite confident you did not shake Priscilla because she continued to ask you to get her doll after you had refused. Tell me, dear, you did not shake Priscilla?”
“Yes, Mrs. Duer.”
For a second or two the room was very quiet. Polly was having a mighty struggle with herself. Hannah had told her only to speak when she was spoken to, and yet she knew that her answers to Mrs. Duer’s questions, truthful though they were, did not give a just account of the trouble between her and Priscilla. There was something amiss somewhere that she could not straighten out.
Mrs. Duer, meanwhile, was struggling on her side to conquer the feeling that had grown in her against this ungrateful little girl for whom she had done so much.
At length she spoke again.
“I am very sorry and very much disappointed, Polly. I never could have believed that you would grieve me so. To raise your hand against gentle little Priscilla, who is so delicate and who loved you so much! Well, child, I suppose you did not realize what you were doing, and you certainly look as if you had suffered for your fault. Still, I do not feel as if I could ever trust you again with my little girl.”
Then somehow, in spite of Hannah, in spite of everything, Polly’s self-control gave way. “I wasn’t to blame! I wasn’t to blame!” she cried chokingly, over and over again.
Mrs. Duer sighed. “I am willing to believe you did not mean to be to blame,” she admitted patiently. “But now I want to tell you that I have decided to take Priscilla away for a while. She needs a change and it will be better for you both to be separated for the present. Hannah will go with me, but you can stay on here while we are gone, at least, and Theresa will look after you. I am sure you will be a good and obedient child and do just as she tells you, so that I shall not have to be anxious on your account while I am absent. You have been honest in confessing the truth and so I am willing to believe you will keep your promise if you give me your word you will be good and obedient while I am away and will do as Theresa tells you. Will you, Polly?”