"Come along. I have been such a dull dog to-day, and I want to be amused! Sit down on that small chair, and let me look at you. Now talk. You talk and I'll listen."
Noel felt absolutely dumb. What could he say?
"Well," she said, looking at him with a little laugh, "I'm sure you have never lost your tongue. And you do know such a lot that I don't. I want to be taught as well as amused."
"Grown-up people aren't taught," said Noel, looking at her in his stolid kind of way.
"Oh, aren't they, my little cherub! I'm learning every day of my life."
"I'm not a cherub," said Noel. "I'm a boy."
"Do you know what cherub means? In the Hebrew tongue, it means fullness of knowledge, and the cherubims have it. I think you know a lot that I don't know. I shan't tell you to be quiet about God. I like to hear you talk about Him."
"Reely?"
Noel couldn't quite make out this new friend, but his tongue was loosening.
"Chris says you can think about God, but boys don't talk about Him unless they're with their mothers alone; then they can."