Flea dropped her gaze before the earnest eyes.
"Yep!" she choked. "But I'm a squatter, Missus, and squatters don't count for nothin'. But Fluke—"
"Poor child! She can't think of anyone but her brother," Miss Shellington murmured to herself.
But Flea caught the words.
"He's so good—oh, so awful good—and he ain't never had no chance with Pappy Lon. If he gets well, we'll work together, and we won't steal nothin' ever no more."
"I feel positive you won't," assured Ann. "You remember, I told you tonight how very good God is to all His children, and you are a child of His, and you know that the Bible says that you must never take anything that doesn't belong to you."
"Nope, I ain't never seen no Bible," faltered Flea.
"Then I'm going to give you one, and you can learn to read it. Wouldn't you be happy if your brother should get well, and you knew that your prayers had done it?"
"It wouldn't be me, Ma'm; 'twould be you and your brother."
Ann considered how she should best begin to open the young mind to truth.