Элинор Ходжман Портер – Pollyanna (страница 12)

“There!” panted Pollyanna, hastily plucking a pink from a vase near by and tucking it into the dark hair where it would give the best effect. “Now I reckon we’re ready to be looked at!” And she held out the mirror in triumph.

“Humph!” grunted the sick woman, eyeing her reflection severely. “I like red pinks better than pink ones; but then, it’ll fade, anyhow, before night, so what’s the difference!”

“But I should think you’d be glad they did fade,” laughed Pollyanna, “’cause then you can have the fun of getting some more. I just love your hair fluffed out like that,” she finished with a satisfied gaze. “Don’t you?”

“Hm-m; maybe. Still – ’twon’t last, with me tossing back and forth on the pillow as I do.”

“Of course not – and I’m glad, too,” nodded Pollyanna, cheerfully, “because then I can fix it again. Anyhow, I should think you’d be glad it’s black – black shows up so much nicer on a pillow than yellow hair like mine does.”

“Maybe; but I never did set much store by black hair – shows gray too soon,” retorted Mrs. Snow. She spoke fretfully, but she still held the mirror before her face.

“Oh, I love black hair! I should be so glad if I only had it,” sighed Pollyanna.

Mrs. Snow dropped the mirror and turned irritably.

“Well, you wouldn’t! – not if you were me. You wouldn’t be glad for black hair nor anything else – if you had to lie here all day as I do!”

Pollyanna bent her brows in a thoughtful frown.

“Why, ’twould be kind of hard – to do it then, wouldn’t it?” she mused aloud.

“Do what?”

“Be glad about things.”

“Be glad about things – when you’re sick in bed all your days? Well, I should say it would,” retorted Mrs. Snow. “If you don’t think so, just tell me something to be glad about; that’s all!”

To Mrs. Snow’s unbounded amazement, Pollyanna sprang to her feet and clapped her hands.

“Oh, goody! That’ll be a hard one – won’t it? I’ve got to go, now, but I’ll think and think all the way home; and maybe the next time I come I can tell it to you. Good-by. I’ve had a lovely time! Good-by,” she called again, as she tripped through the doorway.

“Well, I never! Now, what does she mean by that?” ejaculated Mrs. Snow, staring after her visitor. By and by she turned her head and picked up the mirror, eyeing her reflection critically.

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