Part 5 (1/2)
”Why don't you let Mrs. Brown go alone?”
”Oh, it will be so much more fun to go too.”
”You can't find his house.”
”Oh, yes; it will be somewhere down Hanover Street. Mrs. Brown knows. If we take him there, he'll lead us on. Oh, it will be great fun.”
”I don't believe your mother would like you to go without letting her know.”
”Well, I just have to go. I'm sure she won't care.”
Though Nora was so confident, Brenda had some misgivings. She knew that she really ought to be at home, but the temptation to go with Nora was too strong to resist.
So, soon after two o'clock the strange procession began its march toward Hanover Street, Manuel walking between Nora and Brenda, while Mrs. Brown brought up the rear. Manuel was still silent.
”If he were a girl he'd talk more,” said Nora.
Manuel showed very little interest in the whole proceeding. In fact he seemed so tired that Mrs. Brown would have carried him had he not resisted her efforts to take him in her arms.
IV
A CLUB MEETING
The strange procession had not gone very far when Nora heard some one behind calling her name. It was Miss Crawdon, who, as Nora turned around, signalled her to stop.
”Oh, Brenda, Miss Crawdon wishes to speak to us.”
In a moment their teacher had overtaken them.
”I must reconsider my promise to you, or at least, Nora, you partly misunderstood what I said. It will not do at all for you to go home with this little boy. Your mother would blame me very much.”
”Oh, Miss Crawdon,” pouted Brenda. Nora, too, showed her disappointment.
”Now, Brenda, consider what it means. In the first place it is uncertain whether or not you could find his home. In the second place you might have to go into some dirty street or alley. With your mother's consent I should have nothing to say, but as it is----”
”Well, can't we go as far as Scollay Square? We could get a car there and go straight home.”
Miss Crawdon hesitated a moment.
”As it happens,” she replied, ”I have to go in that direction myself. We will walk together, and I will see you safely on your car. Mrs. Brown and Manuel may lead the way.”
”Isn't he cunning!” exclaimed Brenda, as the little boy looked over his shoulder at the girls, with one little hand doubled up against his eye, and his other clutching Mrs. Brown's skirt.
”I wish he would talk to us,” responded Nora. ”Where do you live, little boy?” Manuel smiled knowingly. ”There,” he said, waving his hand indefinitely toward the Square, across which the electric cars were whizzing.
”Oh, no,” cried Nora, ”n.o.body lives there; there are shops and a hotel, and----”
”Birdies, birdies, there,” cried Manuel.