“Just sometimes, to go over to the store. Just across the street and back, and that was all bricks, too.”
Clematis held out her hand
“Do you think you could find your way home again, if Miss Rose went with you?”
Clematis shook her head. “Oh, no. It was a long, long way. I was most dead from walking.”
Mrs. Snow thought a moment. Then she said, “Miss Rose tells me that you have not learned to read. Is that true?”
“Yes’m, I never learned to do anything except count the change I got. But I can learn to read, and do numbers, too.”
Clematis spoke without sobbing now. She was thinking of the country, where girls went who did well.
“Do you think you could take her in a class by herself for a short time?” Mrs. Snow asked, turning to Miss Rose.