"Did the lawyer say so?"
"No, he didn't. He didn't say how old—er—Marvin was. But, of course, he must be only a little boy to run away and get lost."
"Pshaw! He may be older than you are."
"Why, how you talk! Of course he isn't, Hi Strong. How could my little brother be older than I am? Why, that is ridiculous!"
"You have a mighty hazy idea of your brother, I do believe," Hiram chuckled. "If he was arrested and sent to the reform school—"
"Hiram! How can you? My brother arrested?"
"How do you suppose he got into the reform school?" demanded her friend.
"Oh! Do they have to be bad to get to reform schools?"
"He'd have to be sent by the Court to such an institution. He must have been old enough to be arrested for doing something, Sister. It needn't have been anything very bad—swiping apples, or throwing stones, or something like that."
"But, Hiram!" murmured Sister, almost in tears.