Page:Pollyanna Grows Up.djvu/309

Rh Jimmy, in spite of his pain and anger, felt almost like turning comforter.

"Jimmy, dear," said Pollyanna, at last, "we'll have to wait. That's all I can say now. I hope he doesn't care; and I—I don't believe he does care. But I've got to know. I've got to be sure. We'll just have to wait, a little, till we find out, Jimmy—till we find out!"

And to this plan Jimmy had to submit, though it was with a most rebellious heart.

"All right, little girl, it'll have to be as you say, of course," he despaired. "But, surely, never before was a man kept waiting for his answer till the girl he loved, and who loved him, found out if the other man wanted her!"

"I know; but, you see, dear, never before had the other man wanted her mother," sighed Pollyanna, her face puckered into an anxious frown.

"Very well, I'll go back to Boston, of course," acceded Jimmy reluctantly. "But you needn't think I've given up—because I haven't. Nor I sha'n't give up, just so long as I know you really care for me, my little sweetheart," he finished, with a look that sent her palpitatingly into retreat, just out of reach of his arms.