nd don't look scared; I only want to show you a
present I 've had, and ask your advice about accepting it."

"Why, Tom, you look as if you had been knocked down!" exclaimed Polly,
forgetting all about herself, as she saw his face when he rose and
turned to meet her.

"I have; regularly floored; but I 'm up again, and steadier than ever.
Just you read that, and tell me what you think of it."

Tom snatched a letter off the table, put it into her hands, and began to
walk up and down the little room, like a veritable bear in its cage. As
Polly read that short note, all the color went out of her face, and her
eyes began to kindle. When she came to the end, she stood a minute, as
if too indignant to speak, then gave the paper a nervous sort of crumple
and dropped it on the floor, saying, all in one breath, "I think she is
a mercenary, heartless, ungrateful girl! That 's what I think."

"Oh, the deuce! I did n't mean to show that one; it 's the other." And
Tom took up a second paper, looking half angry, half ashamed at his
own mistake. "I don't care, though; every one will know to-morrow; and
perhaps you 'll be good enough to keep the girls from bothering me
with questions and gabble," he added, as if, on second thoughts, he was
relieved to have the communication made to Polly first.

"I don't wonder you looked upset. If the other letter is as bad, I 'd
better have a chair before I read it," said Polly, feeling that she
began to tremble with excitement.

"It 's a million times better, but it knocked me worse than the other;
kindness always does." Tom stopped short there, and stood a minute
turning the letter about in his hand as if it contained a sweet which
neutralized the bitter in that smaller note, and touched him very much.
Then he drew up an arm-chair, and beckoning Polly to take it, said in
a sober, steady tone, that surprised her greatly, "Whenever I was in a
quandary, I used to go and consult grandma, and she always had something
sensible or comfortable to say to me. She 's gone now, but somehow,
Polly, you seem to take her place. Would you mind sitting in her chair,
and letting me tell you two or three things, as Will does?"

Mind it? Polly felt that Tom had paid her the highest and most beautiful
compliment he could have devised. She had often longed to do it, for,
being brought up in the most affectionate and frank relations with her
brothers, she had early learned what it takes most women some time to
disco