“Wont you sit down, Emily? I left your dad last night. He wasn’t well.”
A flash of interest and gratitude crossed her features. She clutched her skirt, stared at the door, bent one knee and sank into the chair timidly.
Fay leaned and whispered:
“Your father sent me to you. He wants you to leave this bunch. He’s afraid you are not being well treated. He thinks you ought to go to some good home,” he added as he realized the girl’s underworld upbringing.
“Is Father coming back to me?”
“No, never.”
“Why not?”
The naivete of the question struck Fay as an indictment against society.
“Because the laws are unjust!” he declared. “They keep a man in prison after he is reformed. They don’t keep a man in a hospital after he is cured.”
“Did you escape from Rockglen?”