"
Pollyanna's wistful little face flamed into sudden joy.
"Glad? GLAD? Well, I reckon I am glad! Oh, Aunt Polly, I've so
wanted to find a place for Jimmy--and that's such a lovely place!
Besides, I'm so glad for Mr. Pendleton, too. You see, now he'll
have the child's presence."
"The--what?"
Pollyanna colored painfully. She had forgotten that she had never
told her aunt of Mr. Pendleton's desire to adopt her--and
certainly she would not wish to tell her now that she had ever
thought for a minute of leaving her--this dear Aunt Polly!
"The child's presence," stammered Pollyanna, hastily. "Mr.
Pendleton told me once, you see, that only a woman's hand and
heart or a child's presence could make a--a home. And now he's
got it--the child's presence."
"Oh, I--see," said Miss Polly very gently; and she did see--more
than Pollyanna realized. She saw something of the pressure that
was probably brought to bear on Pollyanna herself at the time
John Pendleton was asking HER to be the "child's presence," which
was to transform his great pile of gray stone into a home.
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