Welcome to sleep stories with Steph Your go-to podcast That offers you a calm and relaxing transition Into a great night's sleep It is time to relax and fully let go There is nothing you need to be doing now and nowhere you need to go Close your eyes and feel yourself sink into the support beneath you And let all the worries of the day Drift away This is your time and your space Take a deep breath in through your nose And let it out with a long sigh There is nothing you need to be doing now and nowhere you need to go Happy listening Chapter 29 Through an open window One by one the short winter days came and went But they were not short for Pollyanna They were long and sometimes full of pain Very resolutely these days,
However,
Pollyanna was turning a cheerful face toward whatever came Was she not specially bound to play the game now that Aunt Polly was playing it too?
And Aunt Polly found so many things to be glad about It was Aunt Polly too who discovered the story one day About the poor little waifs in a snowstorm who'd found a blown-down door to crawl under And who wondered what poor folks did that didn't have any door And it was Aunt Polly who brought home the other story she'd heard about the poor old lady Who had only two teeth but was so glad that those two teeth hit Pollyanna now,
Like Mrs Snow,
Was knitting wonderful things out of bright-coloured worsteds That trailed their cheery links across the wide spread And made Pollyanna again like Mrs Snow so glad she had her hands and arms anyway Pollyanna saw people now occasionally And always there were the loving messages from those she could not see And always they brought her something new to think about And she needed new things to think about Once she had seen John Pendleton And twice she had seen Jimmy Bean John Pendleton told her what a fine boy he was getting to be And how well he was doing Jimmy told her what a first-rate home he had And what bang-up folks Mr Pendleton made And both had said that all was owing to her Which makes me all the gladder,
You know,
That I have had my legs Pollyanna confided The winter passed and spring came The anxious watches over Pollyanna's condition Saw little change wrought by the prescribed treatment There seemed every reason to believe indeed That Dr Mead's worst fears would be realised That Pollyanna would never walk again Beldingsville of course kept itself informed And at Beldingsville one man in particular Fumed and fretted himself into a fever of anxiety Over the daily bulletins which he managed in some way to procure From the bed of suffering As the days passed however And the news came to be no better but rather worse Something besides anxiety began to set in Despair and a very dogged determination Each fighting for the mastery In the end the dogged determination won And it was then that Mr John Pendleton Somewhat to his surprise Received one Saturday morning a call from Dr Thomas Chilton Pendleton,
He began abruptly I've come to you because you,
Better than anyone else in town Know something of my relations with Miss Polly Harrington John Pendleton was conscious he must have started visibly He did know something of the affair But the matter had not been mentioned between them for 15 years or more Yes,
He said Trying to make his voice sound Concerned enough for sympathy And not eager enough for curiosity In a moment he saw he need not have worried However the doctor was quite too intent on his errand To notice how that errand was received I want to see that child,
He said I want to see and make an examination I must make an examination Well,
Can't you?
Can't I?
Pendleton,
You know very well I haven't been inside that door for more than 15 years You don't know but I will tell you The mistress of that house told me The next time she asked me to enter it I might take that she was begging my pardon And that all would be as before That meant she'd marry me Perhaps you see her summoning me now But I don't But couldn't you go without a summons?
Hardly I do have some pride,
You know But if you're so anxious Couldn't you swallow your pride And forget the quarrel?
Forget the quarrel?
I'm not talking of that kind of pride So far as that is concerned I'd go from here,
There Or my knees Or my head If that would do any good It's professional pride I'm talking about It's a case of sickness and I'm a doctor I can't butt in and say Take me,
Can I?
What was the quarrel,
Chilton?
The doctor made an impatient gesture And got to his feet What's any lover's quarrel after it's over?
He snarled,
Pacing the room angrily A silly wrangle over the size of the moon Or the depth of a river,
Maybe Might as well be So far as it having any real significance Never mind the quarrel So far as I'm concerned I'm willing to say there was no quarrel Pendleton,
I must see that child It may mean life or death It will mean,
I honestly believe Nine chances out of ten Pollyanna Whittier will walk again The words were spoken clearly Impressively And they were spoken Just as the one who uttered them Had almost reached the open window Near John Pendleton's chair Thus it happened That very distinctly They reached the ears of a small boy Kneeling beneath the window on the ground outside Jimmy Bean At his Saturday morning task Of pulling up the first little green weeds Of the flower beds Sat up with ears and eyes wide open Walk Pollyanna,
Walk What does it mean?
From what I can hear and learn The doctor continued A mile from her bedside Her case is very much like one A college of mine friend has just helped For years he's been making this sort of thing A special study I've kept in touch with him And studied too in a way And from what I hear But I want to see the girl John Pendleton sat up in his chair Then you must see her man Couldn't you say through Dr Warren?
The other shook his head I'm afraid not Warren's been very decent He told me himself he suggested consultation With me at the first But Miss Harrington said no so decisively He didn't dare venture it again Even though he knew of my desire to see the child Lately some of his best patients have come to me Of course that ties my hands still more effectually But Pendleton,
I've got to see that child Think of what it may mean if I do Yes,
And think of what it will mean if you don't Retorted Pendleton But how can I without a direct request from her aunt Which I'll never get?
She must be made to ask you How?
I don't know No,
I guess you don't Or anyone else She's too proud and angry to ask me When I think of that child Doomed to lifelong misery And when I think maybe it's in my hands That lies a chance of escape But for that confounded nonsense We call pride and professional etiquette I.
.
.
He did not finish his sentence But with hands thrust deep into his pockets He turned and began to tramp Up and down the room again But if she could be made to understand Urged Mr Pendleton And who's going to do that?
Outside the window Jimmy Bean stirred suddenly Up until now he'd scarcely breathed So intently had he listened Well,
By jinx,
I know He whispered I'm going to do it And forthwith he rose to his feet Crept steadily around the corner of the house And ran with all his might Down Pendleton Hill
