"They shall not wonder why you do. I'll tell them that I asked you to," she said.
Without a word he picked up his books, took his old cap, and crossed the room.
Wondering that he did not speak she followed him.
At the door he turned, and looking up at her with eyes in which tears glistened he said:
"I'm going to work with all my might, and I mean to be a decent man, and then I'll do something for you,—Aunt Judith."
"Gyp, come back and let me thank you!" she cried when, after her surprise, she caught her breath, but a fit of his old shyness had come over him, and having said what was in his heart, he had at once raced off across the fields, and soon was out of sight or hearing in the dark woods.
Aunt Judith told Captain Atherton all about Gyp's ambition, of his hard work at school, and the evenings spent at the cottage.
"He is determined to get on, and he says that he will not always live like a gypsy.
"He declares that he will be a decent man," she said, "but will not people be so prejudiced that they will not care to employ him?" she asked.
"No!" cried the captain, "for I will set aside any notions that they may have by employing him myself.