“There just isn’t anything to be glad about, that I can see,” she said aloud; “unless—­it’s to be glad when the duty’s done!” Whereupon she laughed suddenly.

CHAPTER VII.  POLLYANNA AND PUNISHMENTS

At half-past one o’clock Timothy drove Miss Polly and her niece to the four or five principal dry goods stores, which were about half a mile from the homestead.

Fitting Pollyanna with a new wardrobe proved to be more or less of an exciting experience for all concerned.  Miss Polly came out of it with the feeling of limp relaxation that one might have at finding oneself at last on solid earth after a perilous walk across the very thin crust of a volcano.  The various clerks who had waited upon the pair came out of it with very red faces, and enough amusing stories of Pollyanna to keep their friends in gales of laughter the rest of the week.  Pollyanna herself came out of it with radiant smiles and a heart content; for, as she expressed it to one of the clerks:  “When you haven’t had anybody but missionary barrels and Ladies’ Aiders to dress you, it is perfectly lovely to just walk right in and buy clothes that are brand-new, and that don’t have to be tucked up or let down because they don’t fit!”

The shopping expedition consumed the entire afternoon; then came supper and a delightful talk with Old Tom in the garden, and another with Nancy on the back porch, after the dishes were done, and while Aunt Polly paid a visit to a neighbor.

Old Tom told Pollyanna wonderful things of her mother, that made her very happy indeed; and Nancy told her all about the little farm six miles away at “The Corners,” where lived her own dear mother, and her equally dear brother and sisters.  She promised, too, that sometime, if Miss Polly were willing, Pollyanna should be taken to see them.

“And they’ve got lovely names, too.  You’ll like their names,” sighed Nancy.  “They’re ‘Algernon,’ and ‘Florabelle’ and ‘Estelle.’  I—­I just hate ’Nancy’!”

“Oh, Nancy, what a dreadful thing to say!  Why?”

“Because it isn’t pretty like the others.  You see, I was the first baby, and mother hadn’t begun ter read so many stories with the pretty names in ’em, then.”

“But I love ‘Nancy,’ just because it’s you,” declared Pollyanna.

“Humph!  Well, I guess you could love ‘Clarissa Mabelle’ just as well,” retorted Nancy, “and it would be a heap happier for me.  I think that name’s just grand!”

Pollyanna laughed.

“Well, anyhow,” she chuckled, “you can be glad it isn’t ‘Hephzibah.’”

“Hephzibah!”

“Yes.  Mrs. White’s name is that.  Her husband calls her ‘Hep,’ and she doesn’t like it.  She says when he calls out ‘Hep—­Hep!’ she feels just as if the next minute he was going to yell ‘Hurrah!’ And she doesn’t like to be hurrahed at.”

Nancy’s gloomy face relaxed into a broad smile.