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diff --git a/44547-0.txt b/44547-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c638880 --- /dev/null +++ b/44547-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1145 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44547 *** + +POLLY + + + + +IN UNIFORM STYLE + + + MARSE CHAN. A Tale of Old Virginia. Illustrated by W. + T. Smedley. + + MEH LADY. A Story of the War. Illustrated by C. S. + Reinhart. + + POLLY. A Christmas Recollection. Illustrated by A. + Castaigne. + + UNC' EDINBURG. A Plantation Echo. Illustrated by B. + West Clinedinst. + + _Each, small quarto, $1.00_ + +[Illustration: "_The young man found it necessary to lean over and +throw a steadying arm around her._"] + + + + +POLLY [Illustration] + +A CHRISTMAS RECOLLECTION + + BY THOMAS NELSON PAGE + + ILLUSTRATED BY A. CASTAIGNE + +[Illustration] + + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + NEW YORK, 1897 [Illustration] + + + + + Copyright, 1894, by + Charles Scribner's Sons + + TROW DIRECTORY + PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY + NEW YORK + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + "_The young man found it necessary to lean over and throw + a steadying arm around her._" Frontispiece. + + _Vignette heading._ Page 1. + + "_Drinkwater Torm fell sprawling on the floor._" Page 10. + + "_'I will!' he said, throwing up his head._" Page 22. + + "_There he was standing on the bridge just before her._" Page 30. + + "_He made Torm, Charity, and a half-dozen younger + house-servants dress him._" Page 38. + + + + +[Illustration] + + +IT was Christmas Eve. I remember it just as if it was yesterday. The +Colonel had been pretending not to notice it, but when Drinkwater +Torm[A] knocked over both the great candlesticks, and in his attempt to +pick them up lurched over himself and fell sprawling on the floor, he +yelled at him. Torm pulled himself together, and began an explanation, +in which the point was that he had not "teched a drap in Gord knows how +long," but the Colonel cut him short. + +"Get out of the room, you drunken vagabond!" he roared. + +Torm was deeply offended. He made a low, grand bow, and with as much +dignity as his unsteady condition would admit, marched very statelily +from the room, and passing out through the dining-room, where he +stopped to abstract only one more drink from the long, heavy, cut-glass +decanter on the sideboard, meandered to his house in the back-yard, +where he proceeded to talk religion to Charity, his wife, as he always +did when he was particularly drunk. He was expounding the vision of the +golden candlestick, and the bowl and seven lamps and two olive-trees, +when he fell asleep. + +The roarer, as has been said, was the Colonel; the meanderer was +Drinkwater Torm. The Colonel gave him the name, "because," he said, "if +he were to drink water once he would die." + +As Drinkwater closed the door, the Colonel continued, fiercely: + +"Damme, Polly, I will! I'll sell him to-morrow morning; and if I can't +sell him I'll give him away." + +Polly, with troubled great dark eyes, was wheedling him vigorously. + +"No; I tell you, I'll sell him.--'Misery in his back!' the mischief! +he's a drunken, trifling, good-for-nothing nigger! and I have sworn to +sell him a thousand--yes, ten thousand times; and now I'll have to do +it to keep my word." + +This was true. The Colonel swore this a dozen times a day--every time +Torm got drunk, and as that had occurred very frequently for many +years before Polly was born, he was not outside of the limit. Polly, +however, was the only one this threat ever troubled. The Colonel knew +he could no more have gotten on without Torm than his old open-faced +watch, which looked for all the world like a model of himself, could +have run without the mainspring. From tying his shoes and getting his +shaving-water to making his juleps and lighting his candles, which was +all he had to do, Drinkwater Torm was necessary to him. (I think he +used to make the threat just to prove to himself that Torm did not own +him; if so, he failed in his purpose--Torm did own him.) Torm knew it +as well as he, or better; and while Charity, for private and wifely +reasons, occasionally held the threat over him when his expoundings +passed even her endurance, she knew it also. + +Thus, Polly was the only one it deceived or frightened. It always +deceived her, and she never rested until she had obtained Torm's +reprieve "for just one more time." So on this occasion, before she got +down from the Colonel's knees, she had given him in bargain "just one +more squeeze," and received in return Torm's conditional pardon, "only +till next time." + +Everybody in the county knew the Colonel, and everybody knew Drinkwater +Torm, and everybody who had been to the Colonel's for several years +past (and that was nearly everybody in the county, for the Colonel +kept open house) knew Polly. She had been placed in her chair by the +Colonel's side at the club dinner on her first birthday after her +arrival, and had been afterward placed on the table and allowed to +crawl around among and in the dishes to entertain the gentlemen, which +she did to the applause of every one, and of herself most of all; +and from that time she had exercised in her kingdom the functions of +both Vashti and Esther, and whatever Polly ordered was done. If the +old inlaid piano in the parlor had been robbed of strings, it was all +right, for Polly had taken them. Bob had cut them out for her, without +a word of protest from anyone but Charity. The Colonel would have given +her his heartstrings if Polly had required them. + +She had owned him body and soul from the second he first laid eyes on +her, when, on the instant he entered the room, she had stretched out +her little chubby hands to him, and on his taking her had, after a few +infantile caresses, curled up and, with her finger in her mouth, gone +to sleep in his arms like a little white kitten. + +Bob used to wonder in a vague, boyish way where the child got her +beauty, for the Colonel weighed two hundred and fifty pounds, and +was as ugly as a red head and thirty or forty years of Torm's +mint-juleps piled on a somewhat reckless college career could make +him; but one day, when the Colonel was away from home, Charity showed +him a daguerreotype of a lady, which she got out of the top drawer +of the Colonel's big secretary with the brass lions on it, and it +looked exactly like Polly. It had the same great big dark eyes and +the same soft white look, though Polly was stouter; for she was a +great tomboy, and used to run wild over the place with Bob, climbing +cherry-trees, fishing in the creek, and looking as blooming as a +rose, with her hair all tangled over her pretty head, until she grew +quite large, and the Colonel got her a tutor. He thought of sending +her to a boarding-school, but the night he broached the subject he +raised such a storm, and Polly was in such a tempest of tears, that +he gave up the matter at once. It was well he did so, for Polly and +Charity cried all night and Torm was so overcome that even next +morning he could not bring the Colonel his shaving-water, and he +had to shave with cold water for the first time in twenty years. He +therefore employed a tutor. Most people said the child ought to have +had a governess, and one or two single ladies of forgotten age in +the neighborhood delicately hinted that they would gladly teach her; +but the Colonel swore that he would have no women around him, and he +would be eternally condemned if any should interfere with Polly; so he +engaged Mr. Cranmer, and invited Bob to come over and go to school to +him also, which he did; for his mother, who had up to that time taught +him herself, was very poor, and was unable to send him to school, her +husband, who was the Colonel's fourth cousin, having died largely +indebted, and all of his property, except a small farm adjoining the +Colonel's, and a few negroes, having gone into the General Court. + +Bob had always been a great favorite with the Colonel, and ever since +he was a small boy he had been used to coming over and staying with him. + +He could gaff a chicken as well as Drinkwater Torm, which was a great +accomplishment in the Colonel's eyes; for he had the best game-chickens +in the county, and used to fight them, too, matching them against +those of one or two of his neighbors who were similarly inclined, until +Polly grew up and made him stop. He could tame a colt quicker than +anybody on the plantation. Moreover he could shoot more partridges in +a day than the Colonel, and could beat him shooting with a pistol as +well, though the Colonel laid the fault of the former on his being so +fat, and that of the latter on his spectacles. They used to practice +with the Colonel's old pistols that hung in their holsters over the +tester of his bed, and about which Drinkwater used to tell so many +lies; for although they were kept loaded, and their brass-mounted butts +peeping out of their leathern covers used to look ferocious enough to +give some apparent ground for Torm's story of how "he and the Colonel +had shot Judge Cabell spang through the heart," the Colonel always said +that Cabell behaved very handsomely, and that the matter was arranged +on the field without a shot. Even at that time some people said that +Bob's mother was trying to catch the Colonel, and that if the Colonel +did not look out she would yet be the mistress of his big plantation. +And all agreed that the boy would come in for something handsome at the +Colonel's death; for Bob was his cousin and his nearest male relative, +if Polly _was_ his niece, and he would hardly leave her all his +property, especially as she was so much like her mother, with whom, as +everybody knew, the Colonel had been desperately in love, but who had +treated him badly, and, notwithstanding his big plantation and many +negroes, had run away with his younger brother, and both of them had +died in the South of yellow fever, leaving of all their children only +this little Polly; and the Colonel had taken Drinkwater and Charity, +and had travelled in his carriage all the way to Mississippi, to get +and bring Polly back. + +It was Christmas Eve when they reached home, and the Colonel had sent +Drinkwater on a day ahead to have the fires made and the house aired +for the baby; and when the carriage drove up that night you would have +thought a queen was coming, sure enough. + +Every hand on the plantation was up at the great house waiting for +them, and every room in the house had a fire in it. (Torm had told the +overseer so many lies that he had had the men cutting wood all day, +although the regular supply was already cut.) And when Charity stepped +out of the carriage, with the baby all bundled up in her arms, making +a great show about keeping it wrapped up, and walked up the steps as +slowly as if it were made of gold, you could have heard a pin drop; +even the Colonel fell back, and spoke in a whisper. The great chamber +was given up to the baby, the Colonel going to the wing room, where he +always stayed after that. He spoke of sitting up all night to watch +the child, but Charity assured him that she was not going to take her +eyes off of her during the night, and with a promise to come in every +hour and look after them, the Colonel went to his room, where he snored +until nine o'clock the next morning. + +But I was telling what people said about Bob's mother. + +When the report reached the Colonel about the widow's designs, he took +Polly on his knees and told her all about it, and then both laughed +until the tears ran down the Colonel's face and dropped on his big +flowered vest and on Polly's little blue frock; and he sent the widow +next day a fine short-horned heifer to show his contempt of the gossip. + +And now Bob was the better shot of the two; and they taught Polly to +shoot also, and to load and unload the pistols, at which the Colonel +was as proud as if one of his young stags had whipped an old rooster. + +But they never could induce her to shoot at anything except a mark. She +was the tenderest-hearted little thing in the world. + +If her taste had been consulted she would have selected a crossbow, for +it did not make such a noise, and she could shoot it without shutting +her eyes; besides that, she could shoot it in the house, which, indeed, +she did, until she had shot the eyes out of nearly all the bewigged +gentlemen and bare-necked, long-fingered ladies on the walls. Once she +came very near shooting Torm's eye out also; but this was an accident, +though Drinkwater declared it was not, and tried to make out that Bob +had put her up to it. "Dat's de mischievouses' boy Gord uver made," +he said, complainingly, to Charity. Fortunately, his eye got well, +and it gave him an excuse for staying half drunk for nearly a week; +and afterward, like a dog that has once been lame in his hind-leg, +whenever he saw Polly, and did not forget it, he squinted up that eye +and tried to look miserable. Polly was quite a large girl then, and was +carrying the keys (except when she lost them), though she could not +have been more than twelve years old; for it was just after this that +the birthday came when the Colonel gave her her first real silk dress. +It was blue silk, and came from Richmond, and it was hard to tell which +was the proudest, Polly, or Charity, or Drinkwater, or the Colonel. +Torm got drunk before the dinner was over, "drinking de healthsh to +de young mistis in de sky-blue robes what stands befo' de throne, you +know," he explained to Charity, after the Colonel had ordered him from +the dining-room, with promises of prompt sale on the morrow. + +[Illustration: "_Drinkwater Torm fell sprawling on the floor._"] + +Bob was there, and it was the last time Polly ever sucked her thumb. +She had almost gotten out of the habit anyhow, and it was in a moment +of forgetfulness that she let Bob see her do it. He was a great tease, +and when she was smaller had often worried her about it until she would +fly at him and try to bite him with her little white teeth. On this +occasion, however, she stood everything until he said that about a +girl who wore a blue silk dress sucking her thumb; then she boxed his +jaws. The fire flew from his eyes, but hers were even more sparkling. +He paused for a minute, and then caught her in his arms and kissed her +violently. She never sucked her thumb after that. + +This happened out in front of her mammy's house, within which Torm was +delivering a powerful exhortation on temperance; and, strange to say, +Charity took Bob's side, while Torm espoused Polly's, and afterward +said she ought to have "tooken a stick and knocked Marse Bob's head +spang off." This, fortunately, Polly did not do (and when Bob went to +the university afterward he was said to have the best head in his +class). She just turned around and ran into the house, with her face +very red. But she never slapped Bob after that. Not long after this he +went off to college; for Mr. Cranmer, the tutor, said he already knew +more than most college graduates did, and that it would be a shame for +him not to have a university education. When the question of ways and +means was mooted, the Colonel, who was always ready to lend money if he +had it, and to borrow it if he did not, swore he would give him all the +money he wanted; but, to his astonishment, Bob refused to accept it, +and although the Colonel abused him for it, and asked Polly if she did +not think he was a fool (which Polly did, for she was always ready to +take and spend all the money he or any one else gave her), yet he did +not like him the less for it, and he finally persuaded Bob to take it +as a loan, and Bob gave him his bond. + +The day before he left home he was over at the Colonel's, where they +had a great dinner for him, and Polly presided in her newest silk dress +(she had three then); and when Bob said good-by she slipped something +into his hand, and ran away to her room, and when he looked at it, it +was her ten-dollar gold piece, and he took it. + +He was at college not quite three years, for his mother was taken sick, +and he had to come home and nurse her; but he had stood first in most +of his classes, and not lower than third in any; and he had thrashed +the carpenter on Vinegar Hill, who was the bully of the town. So that +although he did not take his degree, he had gotten the start which +enabled him to complete his studies during the time he was taking care +of his mother, which he did until her death, so that as soon as he was +admitted to the bar he made his mark. It was his splendid defence of +the man who shot the deputy-sheriff at the court-house on election day +that brought him out as the Democratic candidate for the Constitutional +Convention, where he made such a reputation as a speaker that the +_Enquirer_ declared him the rising man of the State; and even the +_Whig_ admitted that perhaps the Loco-foco party might find a leader to +redeem it. Polly was just fifteen when she began to take an interest +in politics; and although she read the papers diligently, especially +the _Enquirer_, which her uncle never failed to abuse, yet she never +could exactly satisfy herself which side was right; for the Colonel was +a stanch Whig, while most people must have been Democrats, as Bob was +elected by a big majority. She wanted to be on the Colonel's side, +and made him explain everything to her, which he did to his own entire +satisfaction, and to hers too, she tried to think; but when Bob came +over to tea, which he very frequently did, and the Colonel and he got +into a discussion, her uncle always seemed to her to get the worst of +the argument; at any rate, he generally got very hot. This, however, +might have been because Bob was so cool, while the Colonel was so +hot-tempered. + +Bob had grown up very handsome. His mouth was strong and firm, and +his eyes were splendid. He was about six feet, and his shoulders were +as broad as the Colonel's. She did not see him now as often as she +did when he was a boy, but it was because he was kept so busy by his +practice. (He used to get cases in three or four counties now, and big +ones at that.) She knew, however, that she was just as good a friend +of his as ever; indeed, she took the trouble to tell herself so. A +compliment to him used to give her the greatest happiness, and would +bring deeper roses into her cheeks. He was the greatest favorite with +everybody. Torm thought that there was no one in the world like him. +He had long ago forgiven him his many pranks, and said "he was the +grettest gent'man in the county skusin him [Torm] and the Colonel," +and that "he al'ays handled heself to be raisin'," by which Torm made +indirect reference to regular donations made to him by the aforesaid +"gent'man," and particularly to an especially large benefaction then +lately conferred. It happened one evening at the Colonel's, after +dinner, when several guests, including Bob, were commenting on the +perfections of various ladies who were visiting in the neighborhood +that summer. The praises were, to Torm's mind, somewhat too liberally +bestowed, and he had attempted to console himself by several visits to +the pantry; but when all the list was disposed of, and Polly's name had +not been mentioned, endurance could stand it no longer, and he suddenly +broke in with his judgment that they "didn't none on 'em hol' a candle +to his young mistis, whar wuz de ve'y pink an' flow'r on 'em all." + +The Colonel, immensely pleased, ordered him out, with a promise of +immediate sale on the morrow. But that evening, as he got on his horse, +Bob slipped into his hand a five-dollar gold piece, and he told Polly +that if the Colonel really intended to sell Torm, just to send him over +to his house; he wanted the benefit of his judgment. + +Polly, of course, did not understand his allusion, though the Colonel +had told her of Torm's speech; but Bob had a rose on his coat when +he came out of the window, and the long pin in Polly's bodice was not +fastened very securely, for it slipped, and she lost all her other +roses, and he had to stoop and pick them up for her. Perhaps, though, +Bob was simply referring to his having saved some money, for shortly +afterward he came over one morning, and, to the Colonel's disgust, paid +him down in full the amount of his bond. He attempted a somewhat formal +speech of thanks, but broke down in it so lamentably that two juleps +were ordered out by the Colonel to reinstate easy relations between +them--an effect which apparently was not immediately produced--and the +Colonel confided to Polly next day that since the fellow had been taken +up so by those Loco-focos he was not altogether as he used to be. + +"Why, he don't even drink his juleps clear," the old man asserted, as +if he were charging him with, at the least, misprision of treason. +"However," he added, softening as the excuse presented itself to his +mind, "that may be because his mother was always so opposed to it. You +know mint never would grow there," he pursued to Polly, who had heard +him make the same observation, with the same astonishment, a hundred +times. "Strangest thing I ever knew. But he's a confoundedly clever +fellow, though, Polly," he continued, with a sudden reviving of the +old-time affection. "Damme! I like him." And, as Polly's face turned +a sweet carmine, added: "Oh, I forgot, Polly; didn't mean to swear; +damme! if I did. It just slipped out. Now I haven't sworn before for +a week; you know I haven't; yes, of course, I mean except _then_." +For Polly, with softly fading color, was reading him the severest of +lectures on his besetting sin, and citing an ebullition over Torm's +failing of the day before. "Come and sit down on your uncle's knee and +kiss him once as a token of forgiveness. Just one more squeeze," as the +fair girlish arms were twined about his neck, and the sweetest of faces +was pressed against his own rough cheek. "Polly, do you remember," +asked the old man, holding her off from him and gazing at the girlish +face fondly--"do you remember how, when you were a little scrap, you +used to climb up on my knee and squeeze me, 'just once more,' to save +that rascal Drinkwater, and how you used to say you were 'going to +marry Bob' and me when you were grown up?" + +Polly's memory, apparently, was not very good. That evening, however, +it seemed much better, when, dressed all in soft white, and with cheeks +reflecting the faint tints of the sunset clouds, she was strolling +through the old flower-garden with a tall young fellow whose hat sat +on his head with a jaunty air, and who was so very careful to hold +aside the long branches of the rose-bushes. They had somehow gotten +to recalling each in turn some incident of the old boy-and-girl days. +Bob knew the main facts as well as she, but Polly remembered the +little details and circumstances of each incident best, except those +about the time they were playing "knucks" together. Then, singularly, +Bob recollected most. He was positive that when she cried because he +shot so hard, he had kissed her to make it well. Curiously, Polly's +recollection failed again, and was only distinct about very modern +matters. She remembered with remarkable suddenness that it was tea-time. + +They were away down at the end of the garden, and her lapse of memory +had a singular effect on Bob; for he turned quite pale, and insisted +that she did remember it; and then said something about having wanted +to see the Colonel, and having waited, and did so strangely that if +that rose-bush had not caught her dress, he might have done something +else. But the rose-bush caught her dress, and Polly, who looked really +scared at it or at something, ran away just as the Colonel's voice was +heard calling them to tea. + +Bob was very silent at the table, and when he left, the Colonel was +quite anxious about him. He asked Polly it she had not noticed his +depression. Polly had not. + +"That's just the way with you women," said the Colonel, testily. "A +man might die under your very eyes, and you would not notice it. _I_ +noticed it, and I tell you the fellow's sick. I say he's sick!" he +reiterated, with a little habit he had acquired since he had begun to +grow slightly deaf. "I shall advise him to go away and have a little +fling somewhere. He works too hard, sticks too close at home. He never +goes anywhere except here, and he don't come here as he used to do. He +ought to get married. Advise him to get married. Why don't he set up to +Sally Brent or Malviny Pegram? He's a likely fellow, and they'd both +take him--fools if they didn't;--I say they are fools if they didn't. +What say?" + +"I didn't say anything," said Polly, quietly going to the piano. + +Her music often soothed the Colonel to sleep. + +The next morning but one Bob rode over, and instead of hooking his +horse to the fence as he usually did, he rode on around toward the +stables. He greeted Torm, who was in the backyard, and after extracting +some preliminary observations from him respecting the "misery in his +back," he elicited the further facts that Miss Polly was going down the +road to dine at the Pegrams', of which he had some intimation before, +and that the Colonel was down on the river farm, but would be back +about two o'clock. He rode on. + +At two o'clock promptly Bob returned. The Colonel had not yet gotten +home. He, however, dismounted, and, tying his horse, went in. He must +have been tired of sitting down, for he now walked up and down the +portico without once taking a seat. + +"Marse Bob'll walk heself to death," observed Charity to Torm, from her +door. + +Presently the Colonel came in, bluff, warm, and hearty. He ordered +dinner from the front gate as he dismounted, and juleps from the middle +of the walk, greeted Bob with a cheeriness which that gentleman in vain +tried to imitate, and was plumped down in his great split-bottomed +chair, wiping his red head with his still redder bandana handkerchief, +and abusing the weather, the crops, the newspapers, and his overseer +before Bob could get breath to make a single remark. When he did, he +pitched in on the weather. + +That is a safe topic at all times. It was astonishing how much comfort +Bob got out of it this afternoon. He talked about it until dinner began +to come in across the yard, the blue china dishes gleaming in the hands +of Phoebe and her numerous corps of ebon and mahogany assistants, +and Torm brought out the juleps, with the mint looking as if it were +growing in the great silver cans, with frosted work all over the sides. + +Dinner was rather a failure, so far as Bob was concerned. Perhaps he +missed something that usually graced the table; perhaps only his body +was there, while he himself was down at Miss Malviny Pegram's; perhaps +he had gone back and was unfastening an impertinent rose-bush from a +filmy white dress in the summer twilight; perhaps--; but anyhow he was +so silent and abstracted that the Colonel rallied him good-humoredly, +which did not help matters. + +They had adjourned to the porch, and had been there for some time, when +Bob broached the subject of his visit. + +"Colonel," he said, suddenly, and wholly irrelevant to everything +that had gone before, "there is a matter I want to speak to you +about--a--ah--we--a little matter of great importance to--ah--myself." +He was getting very red and confused, and the Colonel instantly +divining the matter, and secretly flattering himself, and determining +to crow over Polly, said, to help him out: + +"Aha, you rogue, I knew it. Come up to the scratch, sir. So you are +caught at last. Ah, you sly fox! It's the very thing you ought to do. +Why, I know half a dozen girls who'd jump at you. I knew it. I said so +the other night. Polly--" + +Bob was utterly off his feet by this time. "I want to ask your consent +to marry Polly," he blurted out desperately; "I love her." + +"The devil you do!" exclaimed the Colonel. He could say no more; he +simply sat still, in speechless, helpless, blank amazement. To him +Polly was still a little girl climbing his knees, and an emperor might +not aspire to her. + +[Illustration: _"'I will!' he said, throwing up his head."_] + +"Yes, sir, I do," said Bob, calm enough now--growing cool as the +Colonel became excited. "I love her, and I want her. + +"Well, sir, you can't have her!" roared the Colonel, pulling himself up +from his seat in the violence of his refusal. He looked like a tawny +lion whose lair had been invaded. + +Bob's face paled, and a look came on it that the Colonel recalled +afterward, and which he did not remember ever to have seen on it +before, except once, when, years ago, some one shot one of his dogs--a +look made up of anger and of dogged resolution. "I will!" he said, +throwing up his head and looking the Colonel straight in the eyes, his +voice perfectly calm, but his eyes blazing, the mouth drawn close, and +the lines of his face as if they had been carved in granite. + +"I'll be ---- if you shall!" stormed the Colonel: "the King of England +should not have her!" and, turning, he stamped into the house and +slammed the door behind him. + +Bob walked slowly down the steps and around to the stables, where he +ordered his horse. He rode home across the fields without a word, +except, as he jumped his horse over the line fence, "I will have her," +he repeated, between his fast-set teeth. + +That evening Polly came home all unsuspecting anything of the kind; +the Colonel waited until she had taken off her things and come down in +her fresh muslin dress. She surpassed in loveliness the rose-buds that +lay on her bosom, and the impertinence that could dare aspire to her +broke over the old man in a fresh wave. He had nursed his wrath all the +evening. + +"Polly!" he blurted out, suddenly rising with a jerk from his +arm-chair, and unconsciously striking an attitude before the +astonished girl, "do you want to marry Bob?" + +"Why, no," cried Polly, utterly shaken out of her composure by the +suddenness and vehemence of the attack. + +"I _knew it_!" declared the Colonel, triumphantly. "It was a piece of +cursed impertinence!" and he worked himself up to such a pitch of fury, +and grew so red in the face, that poor Polly, who had to steer between +two dangers, was compelled to employ all her arts to soothe the old man +and keep him out of a fit of apoplexy. She learned the truth, however, +and she learned something which, until that time, she had never known; +and though, as she kissed her uncle "good-night," she made no answer +to his final shot of, "Well, I'm glad we are not going to have any +nonsense about the fellow; I have made up my mind, and we'll treat his +impudence as it deserves," she locked her door carefully when she was +within her own room, and the next morning she said she had a headache. + +Bob did not come that day. + +If the Colonel had not been so hot-headed--that is, if he had not been +a man--things would doubtless have straightened themselves out in some +of those mysterious ways in which the hardest knots into which two +young peoples' affairs contrive to get untangle themselves; but being a +man, he must needs, man-like, undertake to manage according to his own +plan, which is always the wrong one. + +When, therefore, he announced to Polly at the breakfast-table that +morning that she would have no further annoyance from that fellow's +impertinence; for he had written him a note apologizing for leaving him +abruptly in his own house the day before, but forbidding him, in both +their names, to continue his addresses, or, indeed, to put his foot on +the place again; he fully expected to see Polly's face brighten, and to +receive her approbation and thanks. What, then, was his disappointment +to see her face grow distinctly white. All she said was, "Oh, uncle!" + +It was unfortunate that the day was Sunday, and that the Colonel went +with her to church (which she insisted on attending, notwithstanding +her headache), and was by when she met Bob. They came on each other +suddenly. Bob took off his hat and stood like a soldier on review, +erect, expectant, and a little pale. The Colonel, who had almost +forgotten his "impertinence," and was about to shake hands with him as +usual, suddenly remembered it, and drawing himself up, stepped to the +other side of Polly, and handed her by the younger gentleman as if he +were protecting her from a mob. Polly, who had been looking anxiously +everywhere but in the right place, meaning to give Bob a smile which +would set things straight, caught his eye only at that second, and felt +rather than saw the change in his attitude and manner. She tried to +throw him the smile, but it died in her eyes, and even after her back +was turned she was sensible of his defiance. She went into church, and +dropped down on her knees in the far end of her pew, with her little +heart needing all the consolations of her religion. + +The man she prayed hardest for did not come into church that day. + +Things went very badly after that, and the knots got tighter and +tighter. An attempt which Bob made to loosen them failed disastrously, +and the Colonel, who was the best-hearted man in the world, but whose +prejudices were made of wrought iron, took it into his head that Bob +had insulted him, and Polly's indirect efforts at pacification aroused +him to such an extent that for the first time in his life he was almost +hard with her. He conceived the absurd idea that she was sacrificing +herself for Bob on account of her friendship for him, and that it was +his duty to protect her against herself, which, man-like, he proceeded +to do in his own fashion, to poor Polly's great distress. + +She was devoted to her uncle, and knew the strength of his affection +for her. On the other hand, Bob and she had been friends so long. She +never could remember the time when she did not have Bob. But he had +never said a word of love to her in his life. To be sure, on that +evening in the garden she had known it just as well as if he had fallen +on his knees at her feet. She knew his silence was just because he had +owed her uncle the money; and oh! if she just hadn't gotten frightened; +and oh! if her uncle just hadn't done it; and oh! she was so unhappy! +The poor little thing, in her own dainty, white-curtained room, where +were the books and things he had given her, and the letters he had +written her, used to--but that is a secret. Anyhow, it was not because +he was gone. She knew that was not the reason--indeed, she very often +said so to herself; it was because he had been treated so unjustly, +and suffered so, and she had done it all. And she used to introduce +many new petitions into her prayers, in which, if there was not any +name expressed, she felt that it would be understood, and the blessings +would reach him just the same. + +The summer had gone, and the Indian summer had come in its place, +hazy, dreamy, and sad. It always made Polly melancholy, and this year, +although the weather was perfect, she was affected, she said, by the +heat, and did not go out of doors much. So presently her cheeks were +not as blooming as they had been, and even her great dark eyes lost +some of their lustre; at least, Charity thought so, and said so too, +not only to Polly, but to her master, whom she scared half to death; +and who, notwithstanding that Dr. Stopper was coming over every other +day to see a patient on the plantation, and that the next day was the +time for his regular visit, put a boy on a horse that night and sent +him with a note urging him to come the next morning to breakfast. + +The doctor came, and spent the day: examined Polly's lungs and +heart, prescribed out-door exercise, and left something less than a +bushel-basketful of medicines for her to take. + +Polly was, at the time of his visit, in a very excited state, for the +Colonel had, with a view of soothing her, the night before delivered +a violent philippic against marriage in general, and in particular +against marriage with "impudent young puppies who did not know their +places;" and he had proposed an extensive tour, embracing all the +United States and Canada, and intended to cover the entire winter and +spring following. Polly, who had stood as much as she could stand, +finally rebelled, and had with flashing eyes and mantling cheeks +espoused Bob's cause with a courage and dash which had almost routed +the old Colonel. "Not that he was anything to her except a friend," she +was most careful to explain; but she was tired of hearing her "friend" +assailed, and she thought that it was the highest compliment a man +could pay a woman, etc., etc., for all of which she did a great deal of +blushing in her own room afterwards. + +Thus it happened, that she was both excited and penitent the next day, +and thinking to make some atonement, and at the same time to take the +prescribed exercise, which would excuse her from taking the medicines, +she filled a little basket with goodies to take old Aunt Betty at the +Far Quarters; and thus it happened, that, as she was coming back along +the path which ran down the meadow on the other side of the creek which +was the dividing line between the two plantations, and was almost at +the foot-bridge that Somebody had made for her so carefully with logs +cut out of his own woods, and the long shadows of the willows made it +gloomy, and everything was so still that she had grown very lonely and +unhappy--thus it happened, that just as she was thinking how kind he +had been about making the bridge and hand-rail so strong, and about +everything, and how cruel he must think her, and how she would never +see him any more as she used to do, she turned the clump of willows +to step up on the log, and there he was standing on the bridge just +before her, looking down into her eyes! She tried to get by him--she +remembered that afterwards; but he was so mean. It was always a little +confused in her memory, and she could never recall exactly how it was. +She was sure, however, that it was because he was so pale that she said +it, and that she did not begin to cry until afterwards, and that it was +because he would not listen to her explanation; and that she didn't let +him do it, she could not help it, and she did not know her head was on +his shoulder. + +[Illustration: _"There he was standing on the bridge just before her."_] + +Anyhow, when she got home that evening her improvement was so apparent +that the Colonel called Charity in to note it, and declared that +Virginia country doctors were the finest in the world, and that Stopper +was the greatest doctor in the State. The change was wonderful, indeed; +and the old gilt mirror, with its gauze-covered frame, would never have +known for the sad-eyed Polly of the day before the bright, happy +maiden that stood before it now and smiled at the beaming face which +dimpled at its own content. + +Old Betty's was a protracted pleurisy, and the good things Polly +carried her daily did not tend to shorten the sickness. Ever afterwards +she "blessed the Lord for dat chile" whenever Polly's name was +mentioned. She would doubtless have included Bob in her benison had she +known how sympathetic he was during this period. + +But although he was inspecting that bridge every afternoon regularly, +notwithstanding Polly's oft-reiterated wish and express orders as +regularly declared, no one knew a word of all this. And it was a bow +drawn at a venture when, on the evening that Polly had tried to carry +out her engagement to bring her uncle around, the old man had said, +"Why, hoity-toity! the young rascal's cause seems to be thriving." +She had been so confident of her success that she was not prepared +for failure, and it struck her like a fresh blow; and though she did +not cry until she got into her own room, when she got there she threw +herself on the bed and cried herself to sleep. "It was so cruel in +him," she said to herself, "to desire me never to speak to him again! +And, oh! if he should really catch him on the place and shoot him!" +The pronouns in our language were probably invented by young women. + +The headache Polly had the next morning was not invented. Poor little +thing! her last hope was gone. She determined to bid Bob good-by, and +never see him again. She had made up her mind to this on her knees, so +she knew she was right. The pain it cost her satisfied her that she was. + +She was firmly resolved when she set out that afternoon to see +old Betty, who was in everybody's judgment except her own quite +convalescent, and whom Dr. Stopper pronounced entirely well. She +wavered a little in her resolution when, descending the path along the +willows, which were leafless now, she caught sight of a tall figure +loitering easily up the meadow, and she abandoned--that is, she forgot +it altogether when, having doubtfully suggested it, she was suddenly +enfolded in a pair of strong arms, and two gray eyes, lighting a +handsome face strong with the self-confidence which women love, looked +down into hers. + +Then he proposed it! + +Her heart almost stood still at his boldness. But he was so strong, +so firm, so reasonable, so self-reliant, and yet so gentle, she could +not but listen to him. Still she refused--and she never did consent; +she forbade him ever to think of it again. Then she begged him never +to come there again, and told him of her uncle's threats, and of her +fears for him; and then, when he laughed at them, she begged him never, +never, under any circumstances, to take any notice of what her uncle +might do or say, but rather to stand still and be shot dead; and then, +when Bob promised this, she burst into tears, and he had to hold her +and comfort her like a little girl. + +It was pretty bad after that, and but for Polly's out-door exercise +she would undoubtedly have succumbed. It seemed as if something had +come between her and her uncle. She no longer went about singing like a +bird. She suffered under the sense of being misunderstood, and it was +so lonely! He too was oppressed by it. Even Torm shared in it, and his +expositions assumed a cast terrific in the last degree. + +It was now December. + +One evening it culminated. The weather had been too bad for Polly to +go out, and she was sick. Finally Stopper was sent for. Polly, who, +to use Charity's expression, was "pestered till she was fractious," +rebelled flatly, and refused to keep her bed or to take the medicines +prescribed. Charity backed her. Torm got drunk. The Colonel was in +a fume, and declared his intention to sell Torm next morning, as +usual, and to take Charity and Polly and go to Europe. This was well +enough; but to Polly's consternation, when she came to breakfast next +morning, she found that the old man's plans had ripened into a scheme +to set out on the very next day for Louisiana and New Orleans, where he +proposed to spend the winter looking after some plantations she had, +and showing her something of the world. Polly remonstrated, rebelled, +cajoled. It was all in vain. Stopper had seriously frightened the old +man about her health, and he was adamant. Preparations were set on +foot; the brown hair trunks, with their lines of staring brass tacks, +were raked out and dusted; the Colonel got into a fever, ordered up all +the negroes in the yard, and gave instructions from the front door, +like a major-general reviewing his troops; got Torm, Charity, and +all the others into a wild flutter; attempted to superintend Polly's +matters; made her promises of fabulous gifts; became reminiscent, and +told marvelous stories of his old days, which Torm corroborated; and so +excited Polly and the plantation generally, that from old Betty, who +came from the Far Quarters for the purpose of taking it in, down to the +blackest little dot on the place, there was not one who did not get +into a wild whirl, and talk as if they were all going to New Orleans +the next morning, with Joe Rattler on the boot. + +Polly had, after a stout resistance, surrendered to her fate, and +packed her modest trunk with very mingled feelings. Under other +circumstances she would have enjoyed the trip immensely; but she felt +now as if it were parting from Bob forever. Her heart was in her throat +all day, and even the excitement of packing could not drive away the +feeling. She knew she would never see him again. She tried to work out +what the end would be. Would he die, or would he marry Malviny Pegram? +Every one said she would just suit him, and she'd certainly marry him +if he asked her. + +The sun was shining over the western woods. Bob rode down that way in +the afternoon, even when it was raining; he had told her so. He would +think it cruel of her to go away thus, and never even let him know. She +would at least go and tell him good-by. So she did. + +Bob's face paled suddenly when she told him all, and that look which +she had not seen often before settled on it. Then he took her hand and +began to explain everything to her. He told her that he had loved her +all her life; showed her how she had inspired him to work for and +win every success that he had achieved; how it had been her work even +more than his. Then he laid before her the life plans he had formed, +and proved how they were all for her, and for her only. He made it all +so clear, and his voice was so confident, and his face so earnest, as +he pleaded and proved it step by step, that she felt, as she leaned +against him and he clasped her closely, that he was right, and that she +could not part from him. + +That evening Polly was unusually silent; but the Colonel thought she +had never been so sweet. She petted him until he swore that no man on +earth was worthy of her, and that none should ever have her. + +After tea she went to his room to look over his clothes (her especial +work), and would let no one, not even her mammy, help her; and when +the Colonel insisted on coming in to tell her some more concerning the +glories of New Orleans in his day, she finally put him out and locked +the door on him. + +She was very strange all the evening. As they were to start the next +morning, the Colonel was for retiring early; but Polly would not go; +she loitered around, hung about the old fellow, petted him, sat on his +knee and kissed him, until he was forced to insist on her going to +bed. Then she said good-night, and astonished the Colonel by throwing +herself into his arms and bursting out crying. + +The old man soothed her with caresses and baby talk, such as he used to +comfort her with when she was a little girl, and when she became calm +he handed her to her door as if she had been a duchess. + +The house was soon quiet, except that once the Colonel heard Polly +walking in her room, and mentally determined to chide her for sitting +up so late. He, however, drifted off from the subject when he heard +some of his young mules galloping around the yard, and he made a sleepy +resolve to sell them all, or to dismiss his overseer next day for +letting them out of the lot. Before he had quite determined which he +should do, he dropped off to sleep again. + +It was possibly about this time that a young man lifted into her saddle +a dark-habited little figure, whose face shone very white in the +starlight, and whose tremulous voice would have suggested a refusal had +it not been drowned in the deep, earnest tone of her lover. Although +she declared that she could not think of doing it, she had on her hat +and furs and riding-habit when Bob came. She did, indeed, really beg +him to go away; but a few minutes later a pair of horses cantered +down the avenue toward the lawn gate, which shut with a bang that so +frightened the little lady on the bay mare that the young man found it +necessary to lean over and throw a steadying arm around her. + +For the first time in her life Polly saw the sun rise in North +Carolina, and a few hours later a gentle-voiced young clergyman, whose +sweet-faced wife was wholly carried away by Polly's beauty, received +under protest Bob's only gold piece, a coin which he twisted from his +watch-chain with the promise to quadruple it if he would preserve it +until he could redeem it. + +When Charity told the Colonel next morning that Polly was gone, the +old man for the first time in fifty years turned perfectly white. Then +he fell into a consuming rage, and swore until Charity would not have +been much surprised to see the devil appear in visible shape and claim +him on the spot. He cursed Bob, cursed himself, cursed Torm, Charity, +and the entire female sex individually and collectively, and then, +seized by a new idea, he ordered his horse, that he might pursue the +runaways, threatened an immediate sale of his whole plantation, and +the instantaneous death of Bob, and did in fact get down his great +brass-mounted pistols, and lay them by him as he made Torm, Charity, +and a half-dozen younger house-servants dress him. + +[Illustration: _"He made Torm, Charity, and a half-dozen younger +house-servants dress him."_] + +Dressing and shaving occupied him about an hour--he always averred +that a gentleman could not dress like a gentleman in less time--and, +still breathing out threatenings and slaughter, he marched out of his +room, making Torm and Charity follow him, each with a pistol. Something +prompted him to stop and inspect them in the hall. Taking first one and +then the other, he examined them curiously. + +"Well, I'll be----!" he said, dryly, and flung both of them crashing +through the window. Turning, he ordered waffles and hoe-cakes for +breakfast, and called for the books to have prayers. + +Polly had utilized the knowledge she had gained as a girl, and had +unloaded both pistols the night before, and rammed the balls down again +without powder, so as to render them harmless. + +By breakfast time Torm was in a state of such advanced intoxication +that he was unable to walk through the back yard gate, and the Colonel +was forced to content himself with sending by Charity a message that +he would get rid of him early the next morning. He straitly enjoined +Charity to tell him, and she as solemnly promised to do so. "Yes, suh, +_I_ gwi' tell him," she replied, with a faint tone of being wounded at +his distrust; and she did. + +She needed an outlet. + +Things got worse. The Colonel called up the overseer and gave new +orders, as if he proposed to change everything. He forbade any mention +of Polly's name, and vowed that he would send for Mr. Steep, his +lawyer, and change his will to spite all creation. This humor, instead +of wearing off, seemed to grow worse as the time stretched on, and Torm +actually grew sober in the shadow that had fallen on the plantation. +The Colonel had Polly's room nailed up and shut himself up in the house. + +The negroes discussed the condition of affairs in awed undertones, and +watched him furtively whenever he passed. Various opinions by turns +prevailed. Aunt Betty, who was regarded with veneration, owing partly +to the interest the lost Polly had taken in her illness, and partly +to her great age (to which she annually added three years) prophesied +that he was going to die "in torments," just like some old uncle of his +whom no one else had ever heard of until now, but who was raked up by +her to serve as a special example. The chief resemblance seemed to be a +certain "rankness in cussin'." + +Things were certainly going badly, and day by day they grew worse. The +Colonel became more and more morose. + +"He don' even quoil no mo'," Torm complained pathetically to Charity. +"He jes set still and study. I 'feard he gwine 'stracted." + +It was, indeed, lamentable. It was accepted on the plantation that Miss +Polly had gone for good--some said down to Louisiana--and would never +come back any more. The prevailing impression was that, if she did, the +Colonel would certainly kill Bob. Torm had not a doubt of it. + +Thus matters stood three days before Christmas. The whole plantation +was plunged in gloom. It would be the first time since Miss Polly was a +baby that they had not had "a big Christmas." + +Torm's lugubrious countenance one morning seemed to shock the +Colonel out of his lethargy. He asked how many days there would be +before Christmas, and learning that there were but three, he ordered +preparations to be made for a great feast and a big time generally. +He had the wood-pile replenished as usual, got up his presents, and +superintended the Christmas operations himself, as Polly used to do. +But it was sad work, and when Torm and Charity retired Christmas Eve +night, although Torm had imbibed plentifully, and the tables were all +spread for the great dinner for the servants next day, there was no +peace in Torm's discourse; it was all of wrath and judgment to come. + +He had just gone to sleep when there was a knock at the door. + +"Who dat out dyah?" called Charity. "You niggers better go 'long to +bed." + +The knock was repeated. + +"Who dat out dyah, I say?" queried Charity, testily. "Whyn't you go +'long 'way from dat do'? Torm, Torm, dee's somebody at de do'," she +said, as the knocking was renewed. + +Torm was hard to wake, but at length he got up and moved slowly to the +door, grumbling to himself all the time. + +When finally he undid the latch, Charity, who was in bed, heard him +exclaim, "Well, name o' Gord! good Gord A'mighty!" and burst into a +wild explosion of laughter. + +In a second she too was outside of the door, and had Polly in her arms, +laughing, jumping, hugging, and kissing her while Torm executed a +series of caracoles around them. + +"Whar Marse Bob?" asked both negroes, finally, in a breath. + +"Hello, Torm! How are you, Mam' Charity?" called that gentleman, +cheerily, coming up from where he had been fastening the horses; and +Charity, suddenly mindful of her peculiar appearance and of the frosty +air, "scuttled" into the house, conveying her young mistress with her. + +Presently she came out dressed, and invited Bob in too. She insisted +on giving them something to eat; but they had been to supper, and +Polly was much too excited hearing about her uncle to eat anything. +She cried a little at Charity's description of him, which she tried to +keep Bob from seeing, but he saw it, and had to--however, when they +got ready to go home, Polly insisted on going to the yard and up on +the porch, and when there, she actually kissed the window-blind of the +room whence issued a muffled snore suggestive at least of some degree +of forgetfulness. She wanted Bob to kiss it too, but that gentleman +apparently found something else more to his taste, and her entreaty was +drowned in another sound. + +Before they remounted their horses Polly carried Bob to the greenhouse, +where she groped around in the darkness for something, to Bob's +complete mystification. "Doesn't it smell sweet in here?" she asked. + +"I don't smell anything but that mint bed you've been walking on," he +laughed. + +As they rode off, leaving Torm and Charity standing in the road, the +last thing Polly said was, "Now be sure you tell him--nine o'clock." + +"Umm! I know he gwi' sell me den sho 'nough," said Torm, in a tone of +conviction, as the horses cantered away in the frosty night. + +Once or twice, as they galloped along, Bob made some allusion to the +mint bed on which Polly had stepped, to which she made no reply. But as +he helped her down at her own door, he asked, "What in the world have +you got there?" + +"Mint," said she, with a little low, pleased laugh. + +By light next morning it was known all over the plantation that Miss +Polly had returned. The rejoicing, however, was clouded by the fear +that nothing would come of it. + +In Charity's house it was decided that Torm should break the news. Torm +was doubtful on the point as the time drew near, but Charity's mind +never wavered. Finally he went in with his master's shaving-water, +having first tried to establish his courage by sundry pulls at a black +bottle. He essayed three times to deliver the message, but each time +his courage failed, and he hastened out under pretence of the water +having gotten cold. The last time he attracted Charity's attention. + +"Name o' Gord, Torm, you gwine to scawl hawgs'?" she asked, +sarcastically. + +The next time he entered the Colonel was in a fume of impatience, so +he had to fix the water. He set down the can, and bustled about with +hypocritical industry. The Colonel, at last, was almost through; Torm +retreated to the door. As his master finished, he put his hand on the +knob, and turning it, said, "Miss Polly come home larse night; sh' say +she breakfast at nine o'clock." + +Slapbang! came the shaving-can, smashing against the door, just as he +dodged out, and the roar of the Colonel followed him across the hall. + +When finally their master appeared on the portico, Torm and Charity +were watching in some doubt whether he would not carry out on the spot +his long-threatened purpose. He strode up and down the long porch, +evidently in great excitement. + +"He's turrible dis mornin'," said Torm; "he th'owed de whole kittle o' +b'ilin' water at me." + +"Pity he didn' scawl you to death," said his wife, sympathizingly. She +thought Torm's awkwardness had destroyed Polly's last chance. Torm +resorted to his black bottle, and proceeded to talk about the lake of +brimstone and fire. + +Up and down the portico strode the old Colonel. His horse was at the +rack, where he was always brought before breakfast. (For twenty years +he had probably never missed a morning.) Finally he walked down, +and looked at the saddle; of course, it was all wrong. He fixed it, +and, mounting, rode off in the opposite direction to that whence his +invitation had come. Charity, looking out of her door, inserted into +her diatribe against "all wuthless, drunken, fool niggers" a pathetic +parenthesis to the effect that "Ef Marster meet Marse Bob dis mornin', +de don' be a hide nor hyah left o'nyah one on 'em; an' dat lamb over +dyah maybe got oystchers waitin' for him too." + +Torm was so much impressed that he left Charity and went out of doors. + +The Colonel rode down the plantation, his great gray horse quivering +with life in the bright winter sunlight. He gave him the rein, and he +turned down a cross-road which led out of the plantation into the main +high-way. Mechanically he opened the gate and rode out. Before he knew +where he was he was through the wood, and his horse had stopped at the +next gate. It was the gate of Bob's place. The house stood out bright +and plain among the yard trees; lines of blue smoke curled up almost +straight from the chimneys; and he could see two or three negroes +running backward and forward between the kitchen and the house. The +sunlight glistened on something in the hand of one of them, and sent +a ray of dazzling light all the way to the old man. He knew it was a +plate or a dish. He took out his watch and glanced at it; it was five +minutes to nine o'clock. He started to turn around to go home. As he +did so, the memory of all the past swept over him, and of the wrong +that had been done him. He would go in and show them his contempt for +them by riding in and straight out again; and he actually unlatched +the gate and went in. As he rode across the field he recalled all that +Polly had been to him from the time when she had first stretched out +her arms to him; all the little ways by which she had brought back his +youth, and had made his house home, and his heart soft again. Every +scene came before him as if to mock him. He felt once more the touch +of her little hand; heard again the sound of her voice as it used to +ring through the old house and about the grounds; saw her and Bob as +children romping about his feet, and he gave a great gulp as he thought +how desolate the house was now. He sat up in his saddle stiffer than +ever. D---- him! he would enter his very house, and there to his face +and hers denounce him for his baseness; he pushed his horse to a trot. +Up to the yard gate he rode, and, dismounting, hitched his horse to the +fence, and slamming the gate fiercely behind him, stalked up the walk +with his heavy whip clutched fast in his hand. Up the walk and up the +steps, without a pause, his face set as grim as rock, and purple with +suppressed emotion; for a deluge of memories was overwhelming him. + +The door was shut; they had locked it on him; but he would burst it in, +and--Ah! what was that? + +The door flew suddenly open; there was a cry, a spring, a vision of +something swam before his eyes, and two arms were clasped about his +neck, while he was being smothered with kisses from the sweetest +mouth in the world, and a face made up of light and laughter, yet +tearful, too, like a dew-bathed flower, was pressed to his, and before +the Colonel knew it he had, amid laughter and sobs and caresses, +been borne into the house, and pressed down at the daintiest little +breakfast-table eyes ever saw, set for three persons, and loaded with +steaming dishes, and with a great fresh julep by the side of his plate, +and Torm standing behind his chair, whilst Bob was helping him to +"oystchers," and Polly, with dimpling face, was attempting the exploit +of pouring out his coffee without moving her arm from around his neck. + +The first thing he said after he recovered his breath was, "Where did +you get this mint?" + +Polly broke into a peal of rippling, delicious laughter, and tightened +the arm about his neck. + +"Just one more squeeze," said the Colonel; and as she gave it he said, +with the light of it all breaking on him, "Damme if I don't sell you! +or, if I can't sell you, I'll give you away--that is, if he'll come +over and live with us." + +That evening, after the great dinner, at which Polly had sat in her +old place at the head of the table, and Bob at the foot, because +the Colonel insisted on sitting where Polly could give him one more +squeeze, the whole plantation was ablaze with "Christmas," and +Drinkwater Torm, steadying himself against the sideboard, delivered a +discourse on peace on earth and good-will to men so powerful and so +eloquent that the Colonel, delighted, rose and drank his health, and +said, "Damme if I ever sell him again!" + +FOOTNOTE: + +[A] This spelling is used because he was called "Torm" until it became +his name. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Polly, by Thomas Nelson Page + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44547 *** |