Polly O'Neill

“ Tonight he had no desire to repeat the fatal words, “I told you so.”
Of course he had always known that Polly O’Neill would never be a successful actress; she was far too erratic, too emotional. If only she had been sensible for once and listened to him that day in the woods long ago! Suddenly Billy squared his broad shoulders and closed his firm young lips. For, separating herself from every one else, Polly was actually marching directly toward him, and she had ever an uncanny fashion of guessing what was going on in other people’s heads. ”

“ How wonderful to be able to accept fame and wealth in so simple a spirit, and what an object lesson for erratic Polly! Yet some benefit must Miss Adams have received from her friend, for surely she was looking years younger since her arrival in the German forests and so rested that she might soon be able to go back to her work with renewed talent. Think of being rested by being in Polly O'Neill's society! How surprised Polly's mother and Mollie would be by this information! And unconsciously Betty began smiling into the lovely face now bending over hers. ”

“ For her thoughts had traveled away to Polly O'Neill, who was to her surprise still Polly O'Neill. For at one time she had certainly believed that Polly had intended marrying Richard Hunt, the actor, and just why their engagement had been broken no one had ever been told. Possibly it was because Polly had wished to devote herself entirely to her work. She had always said as a girl that marriage should never be allowed to interfere with her career, and certainly it had not. ”

“ What on earth would Betty Ashton not have given at this moment to have prevented her cheeks from suddenly crimsoning in such a ridiculous fashion? Would she never hear the end of her escapade? Excepting her mother, her own family had been curiously severe and unsympathetic over what had seemed to her only an act of foolishness on her part, scarcely a crime. And here was Polly O'Neill also frowning upon her at this present instant as if she had been a saint herself during all her past life. ”

“ Lifting her eyes at this moment to her companion’s, Polly O’Neill burst into tears.
“I am a hopeless, abject failure, Mr. Hunt, and I shall never, never learn to act in a thousand years. There is no use in your trying to teach me, for if we remain at the theater for the rest of the day I shall make exactly the same mistakes tonight. Oh, how can I possibly play a funny character when my teeth are positively chattering with fright even at a rehearsal? It is sheer madness, my daring to appear with you and Margaret Adams before a first-night New York audience and in a new play. ”

“ Rose knew Mrs. O’Neill very well and understood how she dreaded the life of the stage for Polly’s emotional and none too well-balanced temperament. Polly’s fashion of living on her nerves rather than on any reserve of physical strength would be a serious drawback. For a moment the older woman wished that she might be able to accede to this Christmas experiment and that the great actress might be wise enough to recognize Polly’s unfitness for acting and persuade her to dismiss the entire idea from her mind. ”

“ Her school companions were all wealthy and few of them had any ideas beyond clothes and society. To them Polly had seemed a kind of curiosity. She was so impetuous, so brilliant, so full of a thousand moods. Betty Ashton had once said that to know Polly O'Neill was a liberal education, and yet in order to know her one ought to have had a liberal education beforehand.
Today during the recreation hour at "Miss Elkins' Finishing School," which was Polly's present abode, there had been a sudden discussion of plans for the future. ”

“ I will if there is a chance of my friends, Esther Crippen and Polly O'Neill, coming home for the holidays. For it is so big that we could stay in it together. And perhaps Mrs. O'Neill will let Polly come here and visit me for a little while. Both the girls are doing wonderful things in New York City. And I am afraid if they don't come home pretty soon they will both have outgrown me. It is so horrid to be a perfectly ordinary person. ”

“ Only the people who loved her could have dreamed that Polly O’Neill would ever look so pretty. And in one hand the girl was holding a single red rose, though under the other arm she was still clutching her beloved Maltese cat.
“Polly will not answer any curtain calls tonight,” Mrs. Wharton whispered hurriedly when the last scene was over. “If the others will excuse us she has asked that only Sylvia, Betty and Mollie come to her room. Margaret Adams will be there, but no one else. ”

“ She has not much respect for my judgment but she is rather fond of me.”
“And your chaperon?” Perhaps Mr. Hunt realized that he was asking a good many questions when he and Polly O’Neill were still comparative strangers; yet he was too much concerned for her welfare at present to care.
Polly did not seem to be either surprised or offended by his questioning, but pleased to have some one in whom she might confide. ”

“ O'Neill had never seemed very much older than her daughters and had always been called "Mary" by the three girls.
Now Betty reached over and laid one and lightly on Polly. "Don't say we hate no another just because we quarrel now and then and both have bad tempers. I never hate Polly, do I Mary?" ”

“ When the junior apprentice had sore feet and homesickness Morrison washed the feet and comforted the heart, and he helped other men to get through with their work when he might have gone early, a superhuman thing to do. Polly was secretly a little afraid to be left alone with this man and the power of the spirit that was in him. He felt watched.
Platt, also struggling with things his mind could not contrive to reconcile, said “that confounded hypocrite.”
“He’s no hypocrite,” said Parsons, “he’s no hypocrite, O’ Man. But he’s got no blessed Joy de Vive; that’s what’s wrong with him. ”

“ He sat on the stile above Fishbourne and cried to the Heavens above him: “Oh! Roo-o-o-tten Be-e-astly Silly Hole!” And he wore a rather shabby black morning coat and vest, and his tie was richly splendid, being from stock, and his golf cap aslant over one eye.
Fifteen years ago, and it might have seemed to you that the queer little flower of Mr. Polly’s imagination must be altogether withered and dead, and with no living seed left in any part of him. But indeed it still lived as an insatiable hunger for bright and delightful experiences, for the gracious aspects of things, for beauty. ”

“ She caught her breath.
“Yon’s never th’ dawn, Harry!”
“Not wi’out th’ dawn’s come i’ th’ north for once,” he muttered. “Come up, then, Polly!”
The mare sprang more quickly forward at the trailing of the whiplash over her quarters, and the dark hedges made a long blur on either hand. The odd brightness rose and sank over the distant fell.
“Rebecca afore, an’ th’ father ahint,” he said to himself, “an’ we canna hide th’ trap; we maun chance it. Come up, Polly!—Hark!—Ay, yon’s Beeswing; I ken her trot; thou canna leave Beeswing, Polly, poor lass; we can but go forrard. ”

“ Dudley shook her head. “I’m afraid—”
“Nonsense! She can, can’t she, Polly?”
“Yes, do, mother. I’m longing to have you see it.”
She still shook her head, but, as Polly said, the shakes were less emphatic.
[76] “Let’s start by six o’clock,” went on Mrs. Gresham. “To-day would have been lovely, but probably to-morrow will be just as nice. You say we can have it now, and with all the furniture?”
“All there is,” Polly answered. “Of course, there’ll have to be a good deal besides. The living-room is so large and beautiful it will make a lovely ward. ”

“ You're coming soon, aren't you, Rob?
ROBERT—Yes. I'll be right down. [ANDREW and the CAPTAIN leave. RUTH puts MARY on the ground and hides her face in her hands. Her shoulders shake as if she were sobbing. ROBERT stares at her with a grim, somber expression. MARY walks backward toward ROBERT, her wondering eyes fixed on her mother.]
MARY— [Her voice vaguely frightened, taking her father's hand.] Dada, Mama's cryin', Dada.
ROBERT— [Bending down and stroking her hair—in a voice he endeavors to keep from being harsh.] No, she isn't, little girl. The sun hurts her eyes, that's all. ”

“ Oakley, as Calverley ceased speaking, looked at him for a moment very earnestly, and an intelligence passed across his face, as if some new light had broken in upon him; but suddenly, with a sort of smile,—
"By the green wax!" said he, "you seem to think lightly of Black Jack's promises! What! you would bribe me to betray their secrets, would you? One never thinks of doing well, but some temptation is sure to come across.—Come, come, give me the money—I shall think of what you have said another time.—Come, come, I can hardly speak for very drought!" ”

“ Before the wild echoes had rung through the vault, the hysterical girls were tearing at the hard walls, trying in vain to dislodge a nugget.
"Oh, why did I leave that ax in the pannier!" wailed Polly.
"Isn't it always that way—when you need a thing!" exclaimed Eleanor.
In her haste to reach a fragment that looked easy to break off, Polly dropped the torch. She stooped to pick it up again and saw a nugget of the ore on the ground, half-covered with dirt.
"I've got a piece! Oh, Nolla, look! LOOK!" shouted Polly, holding aloft her treasure. ”

“ I shall surely be hung. Oh! oh!" she continued, covering her face with her hands, to shut out the sight of the gasping infant. At this instant, the door opened; Mary looked up fearfully—it was her husband. "Oh, Byles! Byles! look at this child! What will become of me?"
"The saints preserve us!" ejaculated Byles, as he looked at the babe: "Mary, how is this?"
"Oh! don't ask me; but go for Master Calverley. For God's sake, do not stand as if you were bewitched: see! see! he is dying. The poor child! What will become of me? Run, Byles, run, for mercy's sake, and tell Master Calverley." ”

“ The price was now agreed upon, and the purse that accompanied the pursuivant's dress was more than sufficient to satisfy the exorbitant demand of the foreman.
"I may depend upon you, Master Oakley?" said the suspicious steward, pausing at the door.
"By the green wax! may you—Black Jack is a man of honour. As sure as Judge Skipwith sits on the bench, so sure shall I and my men sit in the jury-box. He is a carle to doubt me," said Black Jack, as Calverley shut the door—"Has he emptied his flask? No—by the green wax! he seems to think as little of his wine as his money;" ”

“ The children were in bed, Lilith and Dr. Abbe had gone for a moonlight walk, Benedicta had “stepped down” to see “Young Ben,” Mrs. Daybill was sewing, and Polly was alone on the veranda, when Sardis came across from the Study.
“Want to walk about on ‘Top o’ the World’ a few minutes?” he smiled.
Polly ran down to him, and they went up the road together.
“I’d like a little advice,” he began.
“I’m afraid I shall not be very wise at that,” she returned; “but I will do my best.”
“Suppose we go to the point at once,” he said; “then we will see. ”

“ Her friends laughed and Nancy Fabian, the oldest girl of the five, said teasingly:
“Isn’t it delicious to worry one’s self over who could have sent us a welcome, when we might know for certain, if we would but act prosaically and open the seal.”
The girls laughed, and Eleanor remarked, knowingly: “Oh, Polly knows who it is from! She just wants to enjoy a few extra thrills before she reads the message.”
“Nolla, I do not know, and you know it! You always make ‘a mountain from a mole-hill.’ I declare, you are actually growing to be childish in your old age!” retorted Polly, sarcastically. ”

“ You'll have to sit on my chest, and that wouldn't help my health any. Come on, Andy. Don't play the fool. I want to talk to you, and I'm going to. [With a grim smile.] A dying man has some rights, hasn't he?
ANDREW— [With a shudder.] Don't talk that way, for God's sake! Remember. [He helps ROB to the chair between his own and RUTH'S.] Easy now! There you are! Wait, and I'll get a pillow for you. [He goes into the bedroom. ROBERT looks at RUTH who shrinks away from him in terror. ROBERT smiles bitterly. ANDREW comes back with the pillow which he places behind ROBERT'S back.] ”

“ “Then you—weren't lovers?” Pollyanna's voice was tragic with dismay.
“Never!”
“And it ISN'T all coming out like a book?”
There was no answer. The man's eyes were moodily fixed out the window.
“O dear! And it was all going so splendidly,” almost sobbed Pollyanna. “I'd have been so glad to come—with Aunt Polly.”
“And you won't—now?” The man asked the question without turning his head.
“Of course not! I'm Aunt Polly's.” ”

“ The motor is heard starting and the noise gradually recedes into the distance. ANDREW re-enters and sits down in his chair, holding his head in his hands.] Ruth! [She lifts her eyes to his.] Hadn't we better go in and see him? God! I'm afraid to! I know he'll read it in my face. [The bedroom door is noiselessly opened and ROBERT appears in the doorway. His cheeks are flushed with fever, and his eyes appear unusually large and brilliant. ANDREW continues with a groan.] It can't be, Ruth. It can't be as hopeless as he said. There's always a fighting chance. We'll take Rob to Arizona. ”

“ Courtney.
“Nolla, we ought not to dream of such a trip, because we are tied to a two-year agreement with each other, you know. Then we’ve got to give a definite answer to those life-partners, you know,” was Polly’s lugubrious reply.
“I don’t know, Polly! In such an unexpected matter as our going to the South Seas, a mere beau will have to bide his time. We may find a Fiji Islander more interesting to us than one of our Yankee beaus,” laughed Eleanor. ”

“ The commons of London are rising to help us, and the king will not hold out when he sees——but no matter. Tell me how you have fared. When I left Sudley, to join the commons, you were taken charge of by your brother, who, no doubt, placed you here with your friend Lucy, on her marriage with Wells——"
"Stephen!" said the galleyman, from below.
"Good heavens! I must go. Bless you, Margaret!—bless you! I will see you again soon! May God keep ye both!" Gently laying down the still sleeping babe, he tore himself from the arms of his weeping wife, and rushed down the stairs. ”