“Oh, Mr. Policeman!” exclaimed the lame boy, “those fellows insulted my sister and threw me down. Nobody else dared interfere with them, but this gentleman fought them all. He knocked down the one who insulted Nellie.”
“If we’d got along in time, we’d gathered some of them in. You want to look out for that gang, young fellow,” addressing Frank. “They are a hard crowd, and they’ll try to get even with you.”
Then the officers dispersed the crowd that had gathered, and moved along themselves.
“Oh, how can we thank you, sir?” cried the boy, getting hold of Frank’s hand. “You were so good—and so brave!”
The girl reached out in a strange, uncertain way, saying:
“I must thank him, Jack! Where is his hand?”
“She’s blind,” explained the boy. “She’s my sister, Nell, and we’re all alone in the world.”
“Blind?” gasped Frank, with a shock of horror. “Why, her eyes look all right.”
“Yes; but a doctor said once that the optic nerve was injured by a fall she received.”
“Blind?” whispered Frank, as he held both her hands and looked down into her blue eyes. “My poor, little girl.”