"He's going to take you to a—a—" stammered Frederick.
Tessibel grew faint and dizzy. She uttered a sharp scream.
"A reform school!" she cried.
"Yes."
The blow had fallen at last! She would be dragged from her home, up before the eyes of the world in all her illness and shame. Then she sank to the floor in abandoned misery.
"Oh, Frederick, save me!" she wailed. "Don't let him take me away, and I'll promise never to go outside the shanty. Oh, make him let me stay! Why can't I stay, oh, why can't I?"
"Waldstricker says you've got to go," said Frederick, sadly.
Tess sat up and flung back her curls.
"Well, he don't own the hull world, does he.... Couldn't you, well couldn't you say somethin' to make him let me be?"
"I don't know what to say," the boy mumbled.