ventured Dick.
But Evalani shook her head quickly. "No, no!" she said; "I do not meet people—not anyone." And then she went on; "I suppose you think that it is rather dreadful that I should shield myself behind little David, at the cost of everyone thinking that he is—something shocking, when he is so beautiful."
Dick did not speak, and she continued. "It was a long time before I knew what they thought. I had only kept him to myself, as was my right. And when I found out what they were saying, at first it was dreadful and I felt like taking him out and showing him to everyone, so that they would know. But I couldn't. There wasn't any way that I could do it."
"You felt, I suppose," said Dick, "that the other blot would be harder for him to bear."
She looked over at him and sighed heavily. "What a queer, complicated world it is, isn't it?" she said.
"But I wonder if you have thought," Dick went on, "that you cannot keep him here this way always. That justice to him will require that he go and live in the world eventually, not always alone here upon a mountain."
"You wonder if I have thought of that?" she asked. "Have I thought of anything else all these years? I would go tomorrow if I could, but I cannot. The way isn't open yet. Just as soon as I can find some possible chance, I shall take him to the
