“Oh, Nancy! That’ll be splendid!”
“Maybe,” said Nancy, in open doubt. “You mustn’t count too much[23] on me but I’ll try to play it with you,” she finished, as they entered the kitchen together.
Pollyanna ate her bread and milk with good appetite and went into the sitting room, where her aunt sat reading. Miss Polly looked up coldly.
“Have you had your supper, Pollyanna?”
“Yes, Aunt Polly.”
“I’m very sorry, Pollyanna, to have been obliged so soon to send you into the kitchen to eat bread and milk.[24]”
“But I was really glad you did it, Aunt Polly. I like bread and milk, and Nancy, too. You mustn’t feel bad about that.”
Aunt Polly sat suddenly a little more erect in her chair.
“Pollyanna, go to bed. It was a hard day, and tomorrow we must plan your hours and go over your clothing to see what it is necessary to get for you. Nancy will give you a candle. Breakfast will be at half-past seven. Good night.”
Pollyanna came straight to her aunt’s side and gave her an affectionate hug.[25]
“I know I’m going to just love living with you but then. Good night,” she said cheerfully, as she ran from the room.
“What a most extraordinary child!” Aunt Polly said. Then she frowned. “She’s ‘glad’ I punished her, and I ‘mustn’t feel bad about that,’ and she’s going to ‘love to live’ with me! Well, upon my soul!”
Fifteen minutes later, in the attic room, a lonely little girl sobbed into the sheet:
“I know, father-among-the-angels, I’m not playing the game; I don’t believe even you could find anything to be glad about sleeping all alone in the dark. If only I was near Nancy or Aunt Polly, or even a Ladies’ Aider, it would be easier![26]”
Chapter VI. A Question of Duty
It was nearly seven o’clock when Pollyanna awoke that first day after her arrival. Her windows faced the south and the west, so she could not see the sun yet; but she could see the morning sky, and she knew that the day promised to be a fair one.
Pollyanna ran to the garden where she saw Aunt Polly with an old man.
“Oh, Aunt Polly, Aunt Polly, I am glad this morning just to be alive![27]”
“PollyANNA!” said Aunt Polly, “is this the usual way you say good morning?”
“I saw you from my window and I decided to hug you!”
The old man turned his back suddenly.
“Do you always work in the garden, Mister?” asked Pollyanna.