“My dear child,” he exclaimed tenderly, “you must not worry one bit more about this!  You have given me exactly what I want.  Now leave the matter with Dr. Dudley and me.  Will you agree to do this?”

“If I can,” she answered softly; “but Aunt Jane is very hard to forget!”

“I dare say she is,” smiled the lawyer; “but I think you can do it.  You know the best way to forget a disagreeable thing?”

No, Polly did not.

“It is to keep thinking of other things, pleasant things, until the mind is so full of them that there is n’t a scrap of room for whatever is annoying.  You try it, and see if I am not right!”

“There are lots of pleasant things to think of,” smiled Polly.

“To be sure there are!  One is, that Dr. Dudley is going to bring you out to my house some morning to stay all day.”

“Oh,” beamed Polly, “that would be nice!” She looked across at the Doctor.

He nodded happily.

“If he does n’t do it,” and the lawyer made a comical grimace in Dr. Dudley’s direction, “I’ll come after you myself.”

Polly gurgled out her little laugh, which sounded as if she had already begun to follow the lawyer’s advice, and she thanked him very sweetly for his invitation and his promise.  Presently she went upstairs, and Miss Lucy was relieved to see that she appeared more like her usual self.  But she was very quiet, repeating nothing of what had passed in the office.  It had been a hard day, and Polly was glad when the time came for her to creep into bed.

On Saturday Miss Lucy and her small assistant had a busy morning.  There was scant time to think about Aunt Jane.  When she did appear in Polly’s mind, the little girl remembered Mr. Brewster’s counsel, and hastened to perform her task in hand with exceeding faithfulness, putting on fresh pillows slips with as much care as if the welfare of the ward depended on their being straight to a thread.  Her efforts were successful, for they pushed away Aunt Jane.  So the forenoon passed, leaving her at dinner time a little more tired than usual, but free from the worry of the day before.

Soon after the meal Miss Lucy went downstairs.  When she came back Polly was playing Authors with Leonora, Mabel, Frederica, and Stella.  She stopped beside Polly’s chair.

“Dr. Dudley wants you,” she smiled.  “Run right along, and I will take your place.”

Polly went, wondering, but fearing little.  Miss Lucy’s face was too radiant to betoken anything unpleasant.

Dr. Dudley held out his arms, and the little girl ran into them.

“Glorious news, Thistledown!  It is all settled!  ‘Aunt Jane’ has no right to you whatever!”

“Oh!” she gasped, and went suddenly white.

The Doctor dropped into a chair, and took her in his lap, letting her lean against him.

“I’m glad you are going to school next week,” he declared.  “You will get out of doors more.  I’m not going to have you paling up in this way every little while.  You are in the house too much.”