“Tim is one of these last,” said Walter, patting the boy’s head, as he came near.
“What am I, Walter?”
“Heating yourself sadly, with getting so pushed about.”
“O, I’ll get cool when the show comes, and I sit on the wall again. But if you want to go somewhere else, I’ll come any minute; only, the water is getting so high, it would be a pity to go away and lose our place.”
“So it would. Play away, as you like.”
“Just as if he could see! He talks about the show like any other boy.”
“Ay, and you would be surprised to hear the account he will give his sister when we go home. He picks up a world of odd things that we let slip; and that, and his great mistakes together, make his stories very strange ones sometimes.”
“Yet he seems easy enough to treat and deal with. A kind heart and a little thought may do all that he wants from us.”
“And all that the others want that you mentioned just now. If we let our good will have its way, without being held back and twisted by shyness and doubt, we shall be sure to please people who depend upon kindness more than any others. The only thing I cannot pardon is the giving way to shyness when——”
“And yet I should guess you to be shy yourself.”