During August, Pollyanna often visited Mr. Pendleton, but she wasn't sure how much her visits helped him.
"He seems to like to hear me talk," she thought one afternoon as she walked home through Pendleton Woods. She smiled. "And I do like to talk!"
But she had trouble predicting which topics would upset him. Today she had tried to tell him about the Glad Game, but he cut her off when she mentioned her father.
Pollyanna remembered Nancy's idea that Mr. Pendleton and Aunt Polly had been engaged. "I'm beginning to think Nancy was right. Sometimes he's interested in what I say about Aunt Polly; other times he gets irritable. But he always listens with a strange smile on his face."
Pollyanna stopped to watch two squirrels chasing each other. "Oh, I wish I could bring Aunt Polly and Mr. Pendleton together! They're both so lonely, but I don't know how to help them. Aunt Polly never wants to hear what I have to say about him. Then again, she never wants to hear about Dr. Chilton either. But that's probably because he saw her dressed up with the rose and shawl."
Later that week Pollyanna again noticed Aunt Polly's dislike of Dr. Chilton. Pollyanna was in bed with a bad cold.
"If you aren't better by tonight, I'm sending for the doctor," Aunt Polly said.
"Then I hope I get worse." Pollyanna giggled. "I'd love to have Dr. Chilton visit."
"Dr. Chilton is not our family physician," Aunt Polly said firmly. "I'll ask Dr. Warren to come."
"I like Dr. Warren, but I like Dr. Chilton better. And Dr. Chilton would feel hurt if I didn't use him. It wasn't his fault that he saw you looking so pretty."
"That will do, Pollyanna. I do not wish to discuss Dr. Chilton or his feelings."
Pollyanna studied her aunt's face. "I'd love to fix your hair again, Aunt Polly. Wait—"
But Aunt Polly had already left Pollyanna's room. That evening there was no need to summon a doctor.
After Pollyanna had recovered, she paid another visit to Mr. Pendleton. Upon entering his room, she cried, "There's a rainbow on your pillow! How did it get inside the house?"
"Do you see that thermometer hanging outside the window?" Mr. Pendleton pointed. "Sunlight striking its glass edge causes a prism effect."
"Oh, that's so beautiful! I wish I could live in a rainbow."
Mr. Pendleton laughed as he watched Pollyanna happily studying the colors. "Let's see what we can do about that."
He touched a bell beside his bed, and the maid soon appeared. "Bring me a brass candlestick from the drawing room mantel."
As the maid returned, Pollyanna heard tinkling. She noticed glass pendants hanging from the candlestick. "Oh, those pendants are making such a pretty musical sound!"
Mr. Pendleton asked the maid to remove a curtain and stretch a string across the window. Then he slipped a dozen pendants from the candlestick.
"Now, Pollyanna, hook these glass pieces onto the string. If you really want to live in a rainbow, we'll make one for you."
Pollyanna hung three pendants in the sunlit window. She was so excited that her hands trembled and she could barely finish the job. At last she stepped back to admire her work.
"It's like a fairyland!" she cried. The entire room was aglow with shimmering bits of color. "Perhaps the sun is trying to play the game! Oh, I wish I had prisms to give to Mrs. Snow and lots of folks. Nancy's birthday is next week. And they'd make Aunt Polly so glad, she'd bang doors."
Mr. Pendleton laughed. "It would take more than prisms to make your aunt do that. But what is this game you mentioned?"
Pollyanna explained the game and told him the story of the doll and crutches. This time he didn't mind hearing about her father. Tears came to his eyes. "I think you're the finest prism of all," he said.
"No, beautiful colors don't shine through me. The sun just gives me freckles."
Mr. Pendleton laughed, but Pollyanna thought it sounded more like a sob.
He pressed the bell to summon the maid again. "Pollyanna, I'm sending you home with prisms for you and your friends. And a gold coin for Nancy's birthday."
"Oh, thank you, sir!"