"I am not alone. It is not yet six, and I have been to see a boy who
is what you are not--the head of a house. I mean a house with a
family in it. Have you, too, been visiting?"
His face flushed, and frowningly he turned away. "I had business
down here. I had to come to it as it could not be brought to me.
Where are you going?"
"Home."
Bettina, who in some unaccountable way had managed to stay behind me,
came forward and bowed as if to an audience. "I've been taking her
to where she goes, Mr. Thorne, and grannie knows all the places.
There ain't one that's got a disease in it, and Mr. Crimm would tell
us if it wasn't right to go to them. She don't ever go anywhere by
herself. She's too new yet."
Selwyn smiled grudgingly. Bettina's fat and short little body made
effort to stretch to protective requirements, and her keen eyes
raised to his held them for a moment. Then she turned to me.
"Maybe he'd like to go to some of the homes we go to and see--"
"No. He doesn't want to see." I caught her hand and slipped it
through my arm.
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