Chapter Eight
The Man of the Big House
Peewee's determination to avoid his father had become an emotion very much like being afraid. He did not like to think what his father would do, if he caught him, to a child whose existence compelled him to pay blackmail and threatened such unhappiness to his wife. What would Lampert do to a boy who by running away had interfered with his getting an easy life without doing any work? Peewee's imagination shrank from picturing these things. To avoid rediscovery by Lampert he gave up selling flowers.
He realized that he did not know what his father looked like. Twice he had heard his father's voice and would recognize that, but on neither occasion had he seen him. He could not be sure of recognizing him by his likeness to
