"You are like Miss Ailie with her cane when she is pandying," he told Grizel. "You begin well, but you slacken just when you are going to hit."
"It is because my hand opens," Grizel said.
"And then it ends in a shove," said her mentor, severely. "You should close your fists like this, with the thumbs inside, and then play dab, this way, that way, yon way. That's what Shovel calls, 'You want it, take it, you've got it.'"
Thus did the hunted girl get her first lesson in scientific warfare in the Den, and neither she nor Tommy saw the pathos of it. Other lessons followed, and during the rests Grizel told Tommy all that she knew about herself. He had won her confidence at last by—by swearing dagont that he was English also.
CHAPTER XV — THE MAN WHO NEVER CAME
"Is it true that your mother's a bonny swearer?"
Tommy wanted to find out all about the Painted Lady, and the best way was to ask.
"She does not always swear," Grizel said eagerly. "She sometimes says sweet, sweet things."