"I know it sounds hard. Sometimes a committing magistrate is pretty harsh. They don't have Children's Courts everywhere. And sometimes there isn't any other place to send kids but to the reform school."
"Oh, my dear, you make my heart ache," declared Sister, sighing.
"Well, he was some size to have been sent to such an institution instead of to an orphanage, as you were."
"I—I suppose so."
"How long was he in the reform school before he broke out?" Hiram asked.
"That lawyer did not tell us."
"Then, when did he run away?"
"I guess it was some time ago, come to think of it," the girl admitted.
"Seems to me you and Mother Atterson didn't ask many questions of that man," said Hiram.
"We were so stirred up!" cried Sister. "And he was only at the house a few minutes. He told me to be sure and let him know if I went anywhere else. I wrote to him when I was coming out here. But he never replied."