"Seem"s if I couldn"t, too! I thought you"d never come! What do you think, Polly May Dudley! I"m goin" to live with Mrs. Jocelyn!--all the time!--forever! She"s adopted me!"
Polly stared, and then let out her astonishment in a big "O-h!" This was, indeed, something unguessable. "Isn"t that lovely!" she cried in delight. "I"m so glad!--just as glad as I can be!"
"Of course you are! Everybody is," Leonora responded blissfully. They went in doors arm in arm, stopping in Dr. Dudley"s office, their tongues more than keeping pace with their steps.
"I shouldn"t think your father and mother would want to give you up,"
observed practical Polly.
"I guess they"re glad," Leonora replied. "Prob"ly I wouldn"t go if they were my own; but I don"t belong to them."
"You don"t?"
"Why, no. My mother died when I was three years old. I can only just remember her. In a little while father married again, and pretty soon he died--he was awful good to me! I cried when they said he wasn"t goin" to get well. Then my stepmother married Mr. Dinnan. So, you see, I ain"t any relation really, and they"re prob"ly glad not to have me to feed any more. And I guess I"m glad--my! But I can"t b"lieve it yet! Say, I"m goin" to your school, and Mrs. Jocelyn is comin" to take me out in her carriage this forenoon to buy me some new clothes!"
Polly"s radiant face was enough to keep Leonora"s tongue lively.
"She"s goin" to fix me up a room right next to hers, all white and pink! And she"s goin" to get me a beautiful doll house and some new dolls--she says I can pick "em out myself! And--what do you think!--she said last night she guessed she"d have to get me a pair of ponies and a little carriage just big enough for you and me, and have me learn to drive "em!"
"O-h! won"t you be grand!" beamed Polly.
And then, while Leonora chattered on, came to her a picture of that afternoon--so far away it seemed!--when she had been folded in Mrs.
Jocelyn"s arms, to be offered these same pleasures, and which she had refused for love of Dr. Dudley, although the thought of calling him father had never then come to her. How glad she was that she had not mentioned this! She had always had an intuitive feeling that the concern was Mrs. Jocelyn"s, to be kept as her secret, and she had therefore been silent. Now Leonora need never know that she was "second choice." Her friend"s happy confidences recalled Polly"s strolling thoughts.
"I don"t b"lieve you have any idea how perfectly splendid it makes me feel to think I"m goin" to have that sweet, beautiful Mrs. Jocelyn for my own mother." The last word was little more than a whisper.
Leonora"s dark eyes were luminous with joy.
"Why, of course I know!" responded Polly. "You feel just as I did that day father told me he was going to marry Miss Lucy,--I mean mother,--and I was to be their little girl. Don"t you remember? I"d been for a visit to Mrs. Jocelyn"s and brought home those presents, and Mary Pender thought I must have had such a good time because I was so full of fun."
"I guess I couldn"t ever forget!" cried Leonora. "That lovely rose-bud sash you gave me was the prettiest thing I ever had to wear in all my life! And was that really the day you first knew about it?"
Polly nodded.
"Queer!" Leonora went on. "There we both went to the hospital, you hurted so awful bad n.o.body s"posed you"d get well, and I so lame that even Dr. Dudley thought I"d never walk straight! And now--my! ain"t it queer? We"re adopted by the nicest folks, and I don"t limp a mite!
Just see how good I can walk!"
She skipped off gleefully, falling into a slow, regular pace across the room.
"That"s beautiful!" praised Polly. "And it doesn"t hurt you now, does it?"
"Not a bit! Oh, it"s so splendid that Dr. Dudley cured me!--why, there"s David! No, don"t go!" as Polly sprang up. "It isn"t school time yet."
The girls ran to the door, Leonora clutching her friend"s arm, as if resolved not to let her escape.
"Your mother told me you were here," David began.
"She didn"t tell you I was goin" to your school, did she?" laughed Leonora.
"No! Honest?"
"Yes, honest!" they chorused mischievously.
"There"s something up!" David"s head wagged knowingly. "What is it?"
He looked from Leonora to Polly, and back again.
Then the delightful news could not be kept a minute longer, but bubbled forth from Leonora"s lips, until the three were soon in a torrent of merry talk.
David"s interest fully satisfied the girls, which is saying much for it; but the clock ticked steadily on, regardless of adoptions, new clothes, and ponies. Happily there was a chance look across the room, which hurried Polly and David away to school and sent Leonora up to the convalescent ward to make ready for her drive with Mrs. Jocelyn.
CHAPTER III
A WHIFF OF SLANDER
Within a few days the little girl, who on the occasion of the ward"s anniversary had been afraid to speak to her beautiful benefactor, found herself established in the stately old house on Edgewood Avenue, and calling the same charming lady "mother."
On the morning that Mrs. Jocelyn"s man drove her across the city to the private school which Polly and David attended, she was almost too joyfully excited for comfort. To think that one of her most cherished dreams was actually coming true!
Polly introduced her as, "My friend, Leonora Jocelyn," which made the little dark face pink with pleasure, and nearly caught away the remnant of her self-possession.
The girls and boys received her with polite attention or gushing cordiality, and she was beginning to calm into something like sober happiness when Ilga Barron appeared.
Ilga was short and plumpy, with pincushion legs, and feet that were trained to dancing. The skirt of her dress was as brief as compatible with fashion, and she swung it with a superior air which abashed the meeker of her schoolmates. She greeted the new pupil with a nod and a stare.
"What"s your father"s business?" was her abrupt inquiry.
"I haven"t any father," Leonora answered gently.
"Oh! Where do you live?"
"On Edgewood Avenue."
"Up opposite Edgewood Park?"
"Yes."
"I thought that Mrs. Jocelyn hadn"t any children," scowled Ilga.
"She has just adopted me," Leonora explained shyly.
"Oh!"
That was all, accompanied by a little toss of the head. Then Ilga whirled away, calling on her favorite mate to follow.
Leonora"s face grew distressfully red, and her soft eyes suddenly brimmed.