"Now wait a moment, Poll, before you lose all hope!" exclaimed John, quickly glancing from Anne to his mother, and then back to his sister.
"I asked father if he would agree to your having a private teacher live at Pebbly Pit to educate you, as you craved to be. He is more than willing to consent to this, as it is not the education or money he begrudges you, but the need of your going away from home to get it. Now isn't that fine?"
"Where can we find a teacher who will bury herself in this crater just to teach one girl?" demanded Polly, wiping her eyes.
"W-h-y—I thought perhaps——" John stammered uncomfortably, then gathered courage to add: "Miss Stewart liked it at Bear Forks one year, and she has been teaching Eleanor for two years. She may agree to teach you this year for a tempting salary."
"Anne has had an unusual offer to teach a seminary class in New York," said Mrs. Brewster, without any sign of partiality for any one or any plan.
But Tom Latimer eagerly added: "We can offer Miss Stewart a better salary for her time than any New York school can, if she will agree to stay here and help us win our way to Rainbow Cliffs."
Before Anne could reply, Polly cried: "But I don't want any teacher to live here and educate me! Can't you see that I want to go out, OUT—somewhere, anywhere, away from this volcanic pit where I have been buried for fourteen years!"
Once Polly freed herself of the reticence of speaking of her own ideals and longings for experience, she almost volleyed forth her words, so that every one sat astonished at her eloquence.
"When John went away to school I was awfully lonesome for he used to take me everywhere he went, and we had good times.