Polly with her heart full of the boys, who were hanging on either side, answered at random.
"Oh, Ben! I can't go," she was exclaiming, and she hid her head on his shoulder, so Pickering turned off.
But Joel set his teeth together. "You must," he said, for Ben was beyond speech with the effort to control himself.
"I can't," said poor Polly, "leave you, Ben, and the boys."
And then Mrs. Whitney came up just as Polly was near breaking down.
"My dear child," she said, taking Polly's hands, "you know it is right for you to go."
"Yes, I know," said Polly, fighting her tears.
"Then, Polly, be brave, dear, and don't begrudge me my three new boys," she added playfully. "Just think how happy I'm to be, with six such splendid fellows to call my own."
Polly smiled through her tears.
"And one thing more," said Mrs. Whitney in a low voice, "when you feel badly," looking steadily at Polly and the three boys, "remember what Dr. Fisher said; that if your mother didn't stop working, and rest, she would break down."