Page:Stringer - Lonely O'Malley.djvu/70

 tatting or come with her and the dolls, sometime, and play in the graveyard.

Lonely's sudden answer, which was not a polite one, somewhat speeded Annie Eliza in her departure. Even after she had disappeared, the New Boy gazed down with moody and far-away eyes at the baby, and without even noting the fact, saw that young lady gleefully and doggedly consume a woolly caterpillar and several handfuls of mud from the remnants of a flower-bed.

Then he made his escape to the back of the stable, where he sought consolation in much chair-rattan smoke, and thought of the old Cowansburg gang, and from time to time wished that he were dead.

Much earlier than Lonely had looked for, however, he was destined to meet with a companion of his own sex, if not altogether of his own bent and disposition. This friend was Lionel Clarence Sampson; the Preacher's son, who lived not half a block away from the little bake-shop.

Gilead was the cheery but unwelcome emissary that brought about the unexpected meeting. For Gilead, having in an unguarded