“Why, my dear, don’t mind about that,” said Ruth, taking the lathlike girl in her arms. “If you had asked us we would have let you try on the things, I am sure.”
“Aunt Suse would near ’bout give me my nevergitovers—and she will yet!”
“No she won’t,” Ruth reassured her. “Don’t be afraid of your aunt any longer.”
“That is what I tell her,” Tom said warmly.
“Say! You won’t put me in no home, will you?” asked Bella, with sudden anxiety.
“A ‘home’?” repeated Ruth, puzzled.
“She means a charitable institution, poor dear,” said Aunt Kate.
“That’s it, Missus,” Bella said. “I knew a girl that was out of one of them homes. She worked for Mrs. Grubson. She said all the girls wore brown denim uniforms and had their hair slicked back and wasn’t allowed even to whisper at table or after they got to bed at night.”
“Nothing like that shall happen to you,” Ruth declared.
“Where is your father, Bella?” Tom asked.