“I can support myself.”
“But Grace? She is a delicate girl,” said the mother, anxiously. “She cannot make her way as you can.”
“She won’t need to,” said Frank, promptly; “I shall take care of her.”
“But you are very young even to support yourself. You are only fourteen.”
“I know it, mother, but I am strong, and I am not afraid. There are a hundred ways of making a living.”
“But do you realize that you will have to start with absolutely nothing? Deacon Pinkerton holds a mortgage on this house for all it will bring in the market, and I owe him arrears of interest besides.”
“I didn’t know that, mother, but it doesn’t frighten me.”
“And you will take care of Grace?”
“I promise it, mother.”
“Suppose Grace were not your sister?” said the sick woman, anxiously scanning the face of the boy.