Of course not, child! How you do run on, Pollyanna, especially if you get started on those Ladies Aiders!
Do I, Aunt Polly? asked the little girl, ruefully. And does it plague you? I dont mean to plague you, honestly, Aunt Polly. And, anyway, if I do plague you about those Ladies Aiders, you can be kind o glad, for if Im thinking of the Aiders, Im sure to be thinking how glad I am that I dont belong to them any longer, but have got an aunt all my own. You can be glad of that, cant you, Aunt Polly?
Yes, yes, dear, of course I can, of course I can, laughed Mrs. Chilton, rising to leave the room, and feeling suddenly very guilty that she was conscious sometimes of a little of her old irritation against Pollyannas perpetual gladness.
During the next few days, while letters concerning Pollyannas winter stay in Boston were flying back and forth, Pollyanna herself was preparing for that stay by a series of farewell visits to her Beldingsville friends.
Everybody in the little Vermont village knew Pollyanna now, and almost everybody was playing the game with her. The few who were not, were not refraining because of ignorance of what the glad game was. So to one house after another Pollyanna carried the news now that she was going down to Boston to spend the winter; and loudly rose the clamor of regret and remonstrance, all the way from Nancy in Aunt Pollys own kitchen to the great house on the hill where lived John Pendleton.
Nancy did not hesitate to say to every one except her mistress that SHE considered this Boston trip all foolishness, and that for her part she would have been glad to take Miss Pollyanna home with her to the Corners, she would, she would; and then Mrs. Polly could have gone to Germany all she wanted to[16].
On the hill John Pendleton said practically the same thing, only he did not hesitate to say it to Mrs. Chilton herself. As for Jimmy, the twelve-year-old boy whom John Pendleton had taken into his home because Pollyanna wanted him to, and whom he had now adopted because he wanted to himself as for Jimmy, Jimmy was indignant, and he was not slow to show it.
But youve just come, he reproached Pollyanna, in the tone of voice a small boy is apt to use when he wants to hide the fact that he has a heart.
Why, Ive been here ever since the last of March. Besides, it isnt as if I was going to stay. Its only for this winter.
I dont care. Youve just been away for a whole year, most, and if Id sposed you was going away again right off, the first thing, I wouldnt have helped one mite to meet you with flags and bands and things, that day you come from the Sanatorium.
Why, Jimmy Bean! ejaculated Pollyanna, in amazed disapproval. Then, with a touch of superiority born of hurt pride, she observed: Im sure I didnt ASK you to meet me with bands and things and you made two mistakes in that sentence. You shouldnt say you was; and I think you come is wrong. It doesnt sound right, anyway.
Well, who cares if I did?
Pollyannas eyes grew still more disapproving.
You SAID you did when you asked me this summer to tell you when you said things wrong, because Mr. Pendleton was trying to make you talk right.
Well, if youd been brought up in a sylum without any folks that cared, instead of by a whole lot of old women who didnt have anything to do but tell you how to talk right, maybe youd say you was, and a whole lot more worse things, Pollyanna Whittier!
Why, Jimmy Bean! flared Pollyanna. My Ladies Aiders werent old women that is, not many of them, so very old, she corrected hastily, her usual proclivity for truth and literalness superseding her anger; and
Well, Im not Jimmy Bean, either, interrupted the boy, uptilting his chin.
Youre not Why, Jimmy Be What do you mean? demanded the little girl.
Ive been adopted, LEGALLY. Hes been intending to do it, all along, he says, only he didnt get to it. Now hes done it. Im to be called Jimmy Pendleton and Im to call him Uncle John, only I aint are not I mean, I AM not used to it yet, so I haint havent begun to call him that, much.
The boy still spoke crossly, aggrievedly, but every trace of displeasure had fled from the little girls face at his words. She clapped her hands joyfully.
Oh, how splendid! Now youve really got FOLKS folks that care, you know. And you wont ever have to explain that he wasnt BORN your folks, cause your names the same now. Im so glad, GLAD, GLAD!
The boy got up suddenly from the stone wall where they had been sitting, and walked off. His cheeks felt hot, and his eyes smarted with tears. It was to Pollyanna that he owed it all this great good that had come to him; and he knew it. And it was to Pollyanna that he had just now been saying
He kicked a small stone fiercely, then another, and another. He thought those hot tears in his eyes were going to spill over and roll down his cheeks in spite of himself. He kicked another stone, then another; then he picked up a third stone and threw it with all his might. A minute later he strolled back to Pollyanna still sitting on the stone wall.