The Project Gutenberg eBook, Polly of the Hospital Staff, by Emma C. Dowd, Illustrated by Irma Deremeaux

Title: Polly of the Hospital Staff

Author: Emma C. Dowd

Release Date: June 3, 2005 [eBook #15971]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POLLY OF THE HOSPITAL STAFF***

POLLY OF THE HOSPITAL STAFF

by

EMMA C. DOWD

Boston and New York
Houghton Mifflin Company
The Riverside Press Cambridge

1912

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To "The Mother of Polly"

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Contents

I.	The Cherry-Pudding Story
II.	The Election of Polly
III.	Popover
IV.	David
V.	With the Assistance of Lone Star
VI.	Elsie's Birthday
VII.	The Little Sad Lady
VIII.	A Warning from Aunt Jane
IX.	A Night of Song
X.	The Ward's Anniversary
XI.	Polly Plays the part of Eva
XII.	The Kidnapping of Polly
XIII.	The Return
XIV.	Polly's "Anne Sisters"
XV.	A Bid for Polly
XVI.	A Secret
XVII.	The Wedding

Illustrations

The Story of the Wonderful White Flower — Title Page

"Once upon a Time," she began — Chapter I

Forgetting all but the music she loved — Chapter XV

This document makes you legally our own daughter — Chapter XVII

From drawings by Irma Deremeaux

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The June breeze hurried up from the harbor to the big house on the hill, and fluttered playfully past the window vines into the children's convalescent ward. It was a common saying at the hospital that the tidal breeze always reached the children's ward first. Sometimes the little people were waiting for it, ready with their welcome; but to-day there were none to laugh a greeting. The room was very quiet. The occupants of the little white cots had slept unusually long, and the few that had awakened from their afternoon naps were still too drowsy to be astir. Besides, Polly was not there, and the ward was never the same without Polly.

As the young nurse in charge passed noiselessly between the rows of beds, a small hand pulled at her apron.

"Ain't it 'most time for Polly to come?"

"Yes, I think she will be back pretty soon now." Miss Lucy smiled down into the wistful little face.

"I want Polly to tell me a story," Elsie went on, with a bit of a whine: "my hip aches so bad."

"Does it feel worse to-day?" asked the nurse sympathetically.

"No; I guess not," answered the little girl, glad of a listener. "It aches all the time, 'cept when I'm asleep or Polly's tellin' stories."

"I know," and Miss Lucy's face grew grave. "We shall miss Polly."

"When's she goin' home?" The blue eyes went suddenly