I opened the book at the front, found a big capital A, and pointing to it, asked Lessie what it was.
She shook her head.
"I don' know."
The pity of it! I could scarcely credit her reply.
"Would you like to know? Would you like to know all the letters in this book, big and little, so that you could read them at a glance?" I asked.
Again that hungry, helpless look came to her.
"Oh!... Yes!"
The first word was spoken with a sharply indrawn breath of eagerness. The last one fell softly a moment later.
"You shall, Dryad. It's a shame you can't do it now. Is there no school here—in the neighborhood—at Hebron? Why have you never been to school?"
"They wuz a school in Hebron. Granny wouldn't let me go."