Let me stay alone in Dicky's tent till morning, and
please don't let any one come near me. You can tell everybody the
whole story to-night, if you think best, though I should be glad if
only Dr. Paul and Bell need know; but I do not mind anything after
displeasing you--nothing can be so bad as that. Perhaps you think I
ought to come out and confess it to them myself, as a punishment; but
oh, Aunt Truth, I am punishing myself in here alone worse than any
one else can do it. I will go back to Santa Barbara any time that
you can send me to the stage station, and I will never ask you to
love me again until I have learned how to control my temper. Your
wretched, wretched
POLLY.
P.S.--I remember that it is my birthday, and all that you have done
for me, to-day and all the other days. It looks as if I were
ungrateful, but in spite of what I did I am not. The words just
blazed out, and I never knew that they were going to be said till I
heard them falling from my mouth. It seems to me that if I ever
atone for this I will have a slate and pencil hanging to my belt, and
only write what I have to say. POLLY.
The moisture came to Mrs. Winship's eyes as she read this tear-
stained little note. 'There's something here I don't quite
understand,' she thought; 'and yet Polly confessed that Laura told
the truth. Poor child!--but she has got to learn patience and self-
control through suffering. However, I'll keep the matter a secret
from everybody at present, and stand between her and my inquisitive
brood of youngsters,' and she slipped the note into her pocket.
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