Arizona republican., 1911-05-15
POLLYOOLY AND THE LUMP
 By Edgar JePson.
Copyright, 1909. by the Pearson Pub
 fishing Company.

 full face deepened: and she said. T don't know how you'll manage-you bein' only twelve-an' work so ard to git"
 'I promised Aunt Hannah, just be fore she died. that he should never go into the workhouse; and he shan't. g said the angel child in a tone of cold resolution. Eve got twenty-two shill- ingS as it is"
 An that won't last long. Pollyooly, my dear" said Mrs. Brown.
 But on Saturday there1l be ten shillings, aunts wages-I've been do- ing the work for her. you know" said Pollyooly.
 But p'raps when the gentlemen hear as she's dead, they won't pay you the whole ten shillings," said Mrs. Brown.
 They won't hear" said Pollyooly curtly.
 But if they knew how bad she was, they'll have bin expectin' il" said Mrs. Brown.
 They only know that she's i'll. l didn't tell them that it was an acci- dent and how bad il was. And I'm not going to tell them she's dead. I'm go- ing to go on doing her work just as long as I can said POllyooly in the same tone of cold resolution.
 LOT, POllyOoly, what lies you'll have to tell, An whatever would your Aunt Hannah have said 10 that? An'Nshe so strict with you" said Mrs. Brown, raising her plump hands.
 IL isn't for me-its for the Lump. III ,l IL. D,rT- Ooly with touch of distress in her tone. And shan't tell any lies, Mrs. Brown, I shan't really. If they ask me straight out if Aunt Hannah is dead, I shall tell them the truth"
 What a row there'll be when they do find out" said Mrs. Brown
 can't help that-there's the Lump said Pollyooly. Besides. cook their breakfasts and clean their rooms quite well-ever so much better than that dirty old Mrs. Meeken does the floor below"
 must say your aunt did bring you up to do things proper And eX- pect you do do them six rooms quite we'll Whats six rooms after all? do hope as youH keep the jobs a good long time l don't see who's to tell the gentlemen that your Aunt Han nah's dead. But things do turn out so.' said Mrs. Brown; and she sur veyed the two children gloomily.
 Yet they were not of an appearance to cast a gloom on the faces of those who beheld them PollyOOlv was 10 the eye the genuine angel child. Her eyes were 8 deep blue; her mouth was shaped like Cupids bow; the hue of wild roses stained her pale cheeks: and her white skin was translucent like mother-of pearl Her chin was perhaps little squarer than the chin of the conventional angel; and her red hair was further at variance with the Christmas-card ideal. But 10 the eye of persons of taste she was the genuine angel child; just as the Lump was the genuine, but red-haired. cherub.
 Pollyoolys black frock and the Lump's black tunic threw their clear cOmplexions and delicate colOring into vivid relief They had but just re- turned from the funeral of their great aunt. Hannah Bride. Five days earli- CT an enthusiastic motorist, engaged in a spirited effort 10 beat the speed limit along the Thames Embankment, had knocked her down; and she had died of her injuries in St. Thomass Hospital.
 Mrs Brown had helped Pollyooly in the matter of the funeral, and now. on their return from fl, was giving the children tea in her room. She and her husband, a member of the City Police. were their only friends in London; for she was a native of Nut tle-Deeping. and had been in service at Deeping Hall when Hannah Bride was housekeeper there. When, two years before. the death of Lady Con. stantia Deeping. from whom she had received a pension. and the loss of her savings in an imaginary gold mine had brought Hannah Bride 10 London to begin the world afresh at the age of sixty-two, Mrs. Brown had been her mainstay She had found for her lodging an attic at the top of the house in which she herself lived: and it was from her that Hannah Bride had learned that the post of laundress to two sets of rooms in the Inner Temple was vacant. had applied for them. and had been so lucky as 10 obtain them.
 Mrs. Brown. after the manner Of her class. reckoned a funeral an occasion for feasting: and she was giving the children buttered toast with jam on it. They both enjoyed ii: the Lump with the natural freedom from care of his three years. Pollyooly in spite of her anxiety about the future. and her grief at her aunt's death. During the rest of the meal she discussed with Mrs Brown the prospects of getting work, when she should have lost her Temple posts. .
 After tes she took the Lump up to their attic and washed him. Then they sallied forth into their street, that little slum on which the back win dows of the Kings Bench Walk look down. and which is all that is left of the Alsatia of the Stuarts. It is 10 be feared that PollyOoly. in spite of her walked down it with a true ulent swagger which went III with her angelic air She was at variance with certain young Alsatians who had taken shrill exception to the redness of her hair; and she prosecuted a re- lentless feud against them. with vigor. the result of childhood spent in the healthy air of Muttle- Deeping. which they feared and en- vied. The two children came down |.