"We will stand by you--won't we mother?"
"Yes," said Mrs. Stedman--"but what can poor people like us do?"
"And then you have Miss Gladys!" cried Sophie after a moment.
"Miss Gladys!" he echoed. "Will she take my part against her own
father?"
"She told you that she loved you, Samuel," said the child. "And she
knows that you are in the right."
"I will have to go and see her," said Samuel after a little. "I
promised that I would come and tell what happened."
"And I will see her, too!" put in the other. "Oh, I'm sure she'll
stand by you!"
The child's face was aglow with excitement; and Samuel looked at her,
and for the first time it occurred to him that Sophie was really
beautiful. Her face had filled out and her color had come back, since
she had been getting one meal every day at the Wygant's. "Don't you
think Miss Gladys will help, mother?" she asked.
"I don't know," said Mrs. Stedman dubiously.
"It's very terrible--I can't see why such things have to be."
"You think that Samuel did right, don't you?" cried the child.
"I--I suppose so," she answered. "It's hard to say--it will make so
much trouble. And if Miss Gladys were angry, then you might lose your
place!"
"Oh, mother!" cried Sophie. And the two young people gazed at each
other in sudden dismay. That was something they had never thought of.
"You mustn't do it, Sophie!" cried the boy.
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