POLLY
the old man. He knew it was a plate or a dish.
IHe took out his watch and glanced at it; it was
fivee minutes to nine o'clock. He started to turn
around to go home. As he did so, the memory
of all the past swept over him, and of the wrong
that had been done him. He would go in and
show them his contempt for them by riding in
and straight out again; and he actually un-
latched the gate and went in. As he rode across
the field he recalled all that Polly had been to
him from the time when she had first stretched
out her arms to him; all the little ways by which
she had brought back his youth, and had made
his house home, and his heart soft again. Every
scene came before him as if to mock him. He
felt once more the touch of her little hand;
heard again the sound of her voice as it used
to ring through the old house and about the
grounds; saw her and Bob as children romping
about his feet, and he gave a great gulp as he
thought how desolate the house was now. He
sat up in his saddle stiffer than ever. D--
him! lie would enter his very house, and there to
his face and hers denounce him for his baseness;
he pushed his horse to a trot. Up to the yard
gate he rode, and, dismounting, hitched his
horse to the fence, and slamming the gate fiercely
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