"I believe I"ll go up to Patricia"s," she said to herself. "Mother won"t expect me back for an hour or two, and Patricia wanted me to see her new dresses. It"ll be a good time."
Thus thinking, she took the street that led to The Trowbridge, and was presently admiring Patricia"s pretty frocks. Time pa.s.sed quickly, and it was nearly ten o"clock when she finally started for home.
As she rounded the corner below Lady Gay Cottage, she saw her father"s automobile in front, and then the Doctor himself coming down the walk on a run.
"Oh, maybe I can go with him!" she thought, and sprang ahead.
"Father! father!" she called.
Dr. Dudley turned, and came swiftly towards her. He caught her in his arms,--"Polly!" his voice breaking as she had never heard it before.
"You aren"t hurt at all?" Incredulity was in his tone.
"Hurt? Why, no! How should I be?"
He left her, leaping up the steps, and throwing wide the door. She heard him call:--
"Lucy! she is here!--safe!"
Polly hurried after, to be clasped tightly in her mother"s arms with excited expressions of thankfulness.
"What is it?" she pleaded. "I don"t see what it all means!"
"We heard that the ponies ran away," the Doctor explained, "and that one of you was hurt--badly. Somebody thought it was not Leonora, and, of course--"
"Oh, Ilga!" broke in Polly. And she told of how the exchange had been made.
Dr. Dudley hastened away, to learn the truth of the matter, while Polly and her mother tried to settle into something like calmness.
By chance callers and over the wire came s.n.a.t.c.hes of facts concerning the accident. n.o.body seemed to know what had startled the ponies, but Leonora had pluckily held to the reins until a hill was reached, thereby averting injury to herself. Ilga, becoming frightened, had jumped from the carriage, with serious results. It had occurred while Philip had gone into a shop for some purchase, leaving his own horse and the little team at the curb. When he came out the ponies were dashing across the railway tracks ahead of a coming train, and he was obliged to wait behind the gates until the small carriage was out of sight.
It was not until the Doctor returned that the nature of Ilga"s injuries were known.
"Dr. Palmer and Dr. Houston are attending her," the physician said. "I have heard nothing direct from them, but it is rumored that the girl"s back is broken."
"Poor Ilga!" burst out Polly, and hid her face in her hands amid a torrent of tears. "It is all my fault!" she moaned. "It is all my fault! If I hadn"t asked her, she wouldn"t have got hurt!"
Father and mother tried to soothe her; but her sensitive heart shouldered the entire blame of Ilga"s accident, and it required much reasoning before she was able to look at the matter in a true light.
Further reports confirmed the first rumors about the unfortunate girl.
It was extremely doubtful, the physicians thought, if she ever walked again. Dr. Dudley and his wife kept the sad tidings as much as possible from Polly; but she was obliged to hear talk of it at school, and often she would come home at noon only to spoil her dinner with tears.
One evening Polly was, as usual, perched on the arm of her father"s chair, when he surprised her with some news.
"I had the pleasure of making Miss Ilga"s acquaintance to-day."
Polly"s eyes widened incredulously.
"She is at the hospital," he continued, "and has pa.s.sed through a successful operation. It is too soon to be quite positive, but everything looks favorable to-night."
"Is she going to be able to walk?"
"We hope so."
Polly dropped her head on her father"s shoulder, and sighed a deep sigh of joy.
"How perfectly beautiful! And to think you have done it!" She caught her breath.
The Doctor rested his cheek lightly on the sunny curls, saying nothing. They were still sitting in silence when Mrs. Dudley came in.
Polly and her father understood each other without words.
The Senator"s daughter carried out the hopes of the doctors to the highest degree, and there came a day when Polly, at Ilga"s own request, was sent for.
Miss Hortensia Price was the sick girl"s nurse, and Polly had learned with surprise that a strong friendship was growing between them.
Nevertheless she was unprepared for any manifestation of it, and her joy in seeing their evident love for each other made the first moments of her visit less conscious than they otherwise might have been, for she had been wondering if her schoolmate attached any blame to her for the injuries received in the accident.
"Miss Price knows--I"ve told her!"--Ilga began abruptly; "but I want you to know, for they said you cried when you heard I was hurt, and you thought it was your fault. It wasn"t! Not the least bit! It was all mine! Mrs. Jocelyn"s man went into the store, and told us to wait.
I didn"t see why we should,--and I don"t now, if the ponies were properly trained. I wanted just to drive around the square, but Leonora wouldn"t; so I began to fool with the whip. I switched it about, and teased the ponies. Leonora said she"d never touched them with it, and I told her I didn"t see what a whip was good for if it wasn"t used--and I don"t! If she"d been quiet, I shouldn"t have been so possessed about it; but she kept saying, "Don"t, Ilga! Please don"t, Ilga!" and I hate being nagged. So finally I gave it a good smart flirt, and off they went like a shot! Of course, I was scared, and hardly knew what I did do. Leonora said, real low, "Keep still!
Don"t stir!" I do" know as I should have jumped, if she hadn"t told me not to. But I did, and that"s the last I knew till the doctors were fussing over me."
"But you"re going to get well now!" Polly burst out delightedly.
The pale face on the pillow reflected the joy. "Yes," Ilga replied, "I guess I am, unless they all lie to me. I know Miss Price doesn"t,"
with a nodding smile towards the window where the nurse sat reading.
"But I didn"t s"pose I ever should one time. I don"t b"lieve I should either, if it hadn"t been for Dr. Dudley. Polly, your father is just splendid!"
Polly"s eyes suddenly filled with happy tears. This was something she had not antic.i.p.ated--at least, not yet.
The nurse came with a few spoonfuls of nourishment, and the talk pa.s.sed to other things; but Polly went away feeling that Ilga"s praise was her apology, and that her enemy had been miraculously changed into a friend.
Yet there were hours when the old Ilga was at the front, domineering and impertinent, and Polly would be called upon to exercise all her tact and patience in order to keep things pleasant during her visits.
But, little by little, as the convalescent gathered strength of body she also gained in self-control. Miss Price and Polly were her adored examples of beautiful living, and it was plain that she was honestly trying to attain to what she admired in them, although the dissimilarity of eleven and thirty made the task somewhat more difficult.
Miss Hortensia Price seemed to Polly to be more gentle than in the old days. Or was it that she now understood her better? She could not tell; but it was as unending a wonderment as a joy that the dignified nurse and the untrained, ungoverned girl should have become such close friends.
On the day set for Ilga to try walking across her room she had planned a small tea-party for her chosen comrades.
"Wouldn"t it be wiser, my dear, to wait until the next day?" Miss Price had suggested, not daring to hint more strongly of the possibility of the blasting of their hopes. "The excitement and pleasure of being on your feet again should be sufficient for Wednesday."
But Ilga, sanguine and joyous, wished her friends there to witness her achievement, and so the preparations had gone on.
Miss Price was to be the guest of honor, and Polly, Patricia, David, Gustave, and June English and her brother were to make up the party.
Mrs. Barron was sparing neither trouble nor money to please her daughter, and there were to be guessing contests, with prizes for the successful ones. It was quite out of Ilga"s power to keep a secret, so Polly had been treated to a glimpse of the dear little p.u.s.s.y-head pins, with the emerald eyes, and had heard all about the odd-shaped sandwiches and the curious cakes representing animals, birds, and various other objects, the guessing of which was to be the feature of the tea. She had even peeped at one of the beautiful boxes of confections which stood ready to be given the departing guests as sweet good-byes, until she was looking forward to the party almost as joyfully as Ilga herself. And then the New York letter came.
Ilga noticed the change as soon as Polly appeared.
"What"s the matter?" she asked abruptly.
Polly had been bravely trying to smile, but at the sudden question the corners of her mouth flew down.
"How"d you know there was anything?" she faltered.