Children's Book Classics - Kate Douglas Wiggin Edition: 11 Novels & 120+ Short Stories for Children. Kate Douglas Wiggin
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that you were all so partial to her that she had lost sight of her own deficiencies. Then she called her bold and affected, and I don’t know what else, and finally wound up by saying that nobody but the Winships would be likely to make a pet of the daughter of a boarding-house keeper.’
‘Elsie!’ ejaculated Mrs. Winship; ‘this grows worse and worse! Is it possible that Laura Burton could be guilty of such a thought?’
‘I can’t be mistaken. I was too excited not to hear very clearly; and the moment the words were spoken I knew my poor dear’s fiery temper would never endure that. And it didn’t; it blazed out in a second, but it didn’t last long, for before I could get to the tent she had stopped herself right in the middle of a sentence; and in another minute I heard your voice, and crept back to the hammock, thinking that everything would be settled by Laura’s going away. I’d no idea that she would pounce on Polly and get her in disgrace, the very last thing, when she knew that she was responsible for the whole matter. You see, auntie, that, impolite as Polly was, she only told Laura that we girls were glad she was going. She didn’t bring you in, after all; and Laura knew perfectly well that she was a welcome visitor, and we all treated her with the greatest politeness, though it’s no use to say we liked her much.’
‘I am very sorry for the whole affair,’ sighed Mrs. Winship, ‘there is so much wrong on both sides. Laura’s remark, it is true, would have angered almost anybody who was not old and wise enough to see that it deserved only contempt; but both the girls should have had too much respect for themselves and for me to descend to such an unladylike quarrel. However, I am only too glad to hear anything which makes Polly’s fault less, for I love her too dearly not to suffer when I have to be severe with her.’
‘She wouldn’t ask you to overlook her fault,’ continued Elsie, with tears in her eyes. ‘I know just how wretched and penitent she must be—Polly is always so fierce against her own faults—but what must be making her suffer most is the thought that she has entirely lost your confidence and good opinion. Oh, I can’t help thinking that God feels sorrier this very minute for Polly, who fights and fights against her temper, like a dear sunbeam trying to shine again and again when a cloud keeps covering it up, than He does for Laura, who has everything made smooth for her, and who is unhappy when her feathers are ruffled the least bit.’
‘You are right, dear, in so far that a fiery little soul like Polly’s can, if it finds the right channels, do God’s work in the world better than a character like Laura’s, which is not courageous, nor strong, nor sweet enough for great service, unless it grows into better things through bitter or rich experiences. Now, good-night, my blessed little peacemaker; sleep sweetly, for I am going into Polly’s tent to have a good talk with her.’
As Mrs. Winship dropped the curtains of Elsie’s tent behind her, and made her way quietly through the trees, the tinkling sound of a banjo fell upon the still night air; and presently, as she neared Polly’s retreat, this facetious serenade, sung by Jack’s well-known voice, was wafted to her ears:
‘Prithee, Polly Oliver, why bide ye so still?
Pretty Polly Oliver, we fear you are ill.
I’m singing ’neath thy window, when night dews are chill,
For, pretty Polly Oliver, we hear you are ill.’
She was about to despatch Master Jack to his tent with a round scolding, when the last words of the song were frozen on his lips by the sound of a smothered sob, in place of the saucy retort he hoped to provoke. The unexpected sob frightened him more than any fusilade of hot words, and he stole away in the darkness more crestfallen than he had been for many a year.
Mrs. Winship, more troubled than ever, pulled apart the canvas curtains, and stood in the opening, silently. The sight of the forlorn little figure, huddled together on the straw bed, touched her heart, and, when Polly started up with an eloquent cry and flew into her extended arms, she granted willing forgiveness, and the history of the afternoon was sobbed out upon her motherly shoulder.
The next morning Mrs. Winship announced that Polly was better, sent breakfast to her tent, and by skilful generalship drove everybody away from the camp but Elsie, who brought Polly to the sitting-room, made her comfortable on the lounge, and, administering much good advice to Margery and Bell concerning topics to be avoided, admitted them one by one into her presence, so that she gradually regained her self-control. And at the dinner-table a very pale Polly was present again, with such a white face and heavy eyes that no one could doubt there had been a headache, while two people, at least, knew that there had been a heartache as well. The next day’s mail carried the following letter to Laura Burton:
Camp Chaparral, August 16, 188—.
My dear Laura,—As I told you when you were leaving, I cannot well say how sorry I am that anything should have occurred to mar your pleasant remembrance of your stay with us. That your dear mother’s daughter should have been treated with discourtesy while she was my guest was very disagreeable to me; but I have learned that you were yourself somewhat to blame in the affair, and therefore you should have borne the harsh treatment you received with considerable patience, and perhaps have kept it quite to yourself. (‘That little cat told her, after all,’ said Laura, when she read this. ‘I didn’t think she was that kind.’) Polly would never have confessed the cause of the quarrel, because she knew nothing could justify her language; but Elsie was lying in the hammock behind the tent and overheard the remark which so roused Polly’s anger. You were not aware, of course, how sore a spot you touched upon, or you could never have spoken as you did, though I well know that you were both too angry to reflect. Polly is a peculiarly proud and high-spirited girl—proud, I confess, to a fault; but she comes, on her mother’s side, from a long line of people who have had much to be proud of in the way of unblemished honesty, nobility, fine attainments, and splendid achievements. Of her father’s honourable services to his country, and his sad and untimely death, you may have heard; but you may not know that Mrs. Oliver’s misfortunes have been very many and very bitter, and that the only possibility of supporting and educating Polly lies at present in her taking boarders, for her health will not admit just now of her living anywhere save in Southern California. I fail to see why this is not thoroughly praiseworthy and respectable; but if you do not consider it quite an elegant occupation, I can only say that Mrs. Oliver presides over the table at which her ‘boarders’ sit with a high-bred dignity and grace of manner that the highest lady in the land might imitate; and that, when health and circumstances permit her to diminish the distance between herself and the great world, she and her daughter Polly, by reason of their birth and their culture, will find doors swinging wide to admit them where you and I would find it difficult to enter. Polly apologises sincerely for her rudeness, and will write you to that effect, as of course she does not know of this letter.
Sincerely your friend,
Truth Winship.
Chapter IX.
Round the Camp-Fire
‘The time before the fire they sat,
And shortened the delay by pleasing chat.’
The August days had slipped away one after another, and September was at hand. There was no perceptible change of weather to mark the advent of the new month. The hills were a little browner, the dust a little deeper, the fleas a little nimbler, and the water in the brook a trifle lower, but otherwise Dame Nature did not concern herself with the change of seasons, inasmuch as she had no old dresses to get rid of, and no new ones to put on for a long time yet; indeed, she is never very fashionable in this locality, and wears very much the same garments throughout the year.
Elsie seemed almost as strong as any of the other girls now, and could enter with zest into all their amusements. The appetite of a young bear, the sound, dreamless sleep