For half a moment Polly hesitated, then, holding out her hand, her blue eyes grew gay and tender.
“Thank you, Billy,” she said, “for Mollie’s sake. If you make her as happy as I think you will, why, I’ll also forget and forgive you everything.”
Fortunately by the time Mrs. Martins and Ann had arrived with every possible comfort for the invalid. And so Polly was borne to the cabin in the midst of their anxious inquiries and put to bed, where neither her sister nor Betty were allowed to see her during the evening.
If either of the girls suffered from the deprivation of her society there was nothing that gave any indication of unhappiness in either of the two faces.
CHAPTER XXI—At the Turn of the Road
| “By day, upon my golden hill Between the harbor and the sea, I feel as if I well could fill The world with golden melody. There is no limit to my view, No limit to my soft content, Where sky and water’s fairy blue Merge to the eye’s bewilderment.” |
Polly read from the pages of a magazine, and then pausing for a moment she again repeated the verse aloud, giving each line all the beauty and significance of which it was capable.
She was walking alone along a path beyond the grove of pine trees one Sunday morning about ten days later. She wore no hat and her dress was of plain white muslin without even a ribbon belt for decoration. She had a bunch of blue corn flowers, which she had lately gathered, pinned to her waist and was looking particularly young and well.
Yet for the first time since her home coming Polly had recently been feeling somewhat lonely and neglected. There was at present absolutely no counting on Mollie for anything. Billy had always made demands upon her time when they were simply friends, but since their engagement had been announced there was never an entire afternoon or even morning when Mollie was free. In answer to Polly’s protests that she was only to be at home during the summer and so would like to see her only sister alone now and then, Billy had explained that early August was the only month in which he had any real leisure and that he and Mollie must therefore make plans for their future at once. Moreover, as it was self-evident that her sister preferred her fiancé’s society to her own, Polly had been forced to let the matter drop.
Then a week before, Betty had gone to Boston to see Esther and her new nephew, which was discouraging for her friend. For as Anthony had been too busy to come to the cabin except in the evenings, Polly had the Princess to herself during the day time.