I stood ready to give Pollyanna the love that had been twenty-five years in storage." "LOVE." Miss Polly remembered suddenly why SHE had taken this child in the first place--and with the recollection came the remembrance of Pollyanna's own words uttered that very morning: "I love to be called 'dear' by folks that belong to you!" And it was this love-hungry little girl that had been offered the stored-up affection of twenty-five years:--and she was old enough to be tempted by love! With a sinking heart Miss Polly realized that.

With a sinking heart, too, she realized something else: the dreariness of her own future now without Pollyanna.
"Well ?" she said.

And the man, recognizing the self-control that vibrated through the harshness of the tone, smiled sadly.
"She would not come," he answered.
"Why ?" "She would not leave you.

She said you had been so good to her.

She wanted to stay with you--and she said she THOUGHT you wanted her to stay," he finished, as he pulled himself to his feet.
He did not look toward Miss Polly.