"Can't you stop?"
"I stopped once for two days, and then I took a pack of smokers that wasn't mine. That was about the only thing I ever stole."
"But if you gave me your word not to smoke any more till you're twenty-one, couldn't you keep that promise?"
"I could try," said Bubbles, evincing very little confidence,
"Will you try?" said the surgeon. "Hello, what's this?"
The boy in lifting his left arm had disclosed a dark-brown birthmark shaped like the new moon. All amusement had gone out of Dr. Ferris's eyes; and he had that look of tragic memories that so often put an end to his smiling and optimistic moods.
"Do you remember your father?"
"No, sir."
"Mother living?"
Bubbles hesitated. "She's in an asylum. She's crazy."