Blood al'ays comes out, don't it ?" "I s'pose so." Tilda, still perched on her chair, glanced out at the children in the yard.
"You won't see 'im out there.

He's in the shed at the end o' the kitchen garden, cleanin' the boots.

If you've got anything good to tell 'im, an' 'll promise not to be five minutes, I might give you a run there while the Doctor's finishin' his dinner in his study.

Fact is," added this strange woman, "the child likes to be alone, an' sometimes I lets 'im slip away there--when he's good, or the Doctor's been extra 'ard with 'im." "Beats 'im ?" asked Tilda, and suddenly, still erect on her chair and looking down on the woman, felt her courage flowing back full and strong.

"He's a beast, then." "You musn' talk like that," said the woman hurriedly, with a glance back at the half-open door.