"What's the trouble here?" asked the man in a deep, pleasant voice that carried even through the clamor into Jerry's consciousness. He raised his head and looked up through swollen and tear-drenched eyes at the man.
"They're g-goin' to take Jerry Elbow to the p-p-poor farm Wednesday morning," Danny stutteringly explained.
"Then you must be the Mullarkey children," observed the man, speaking to the group.
"I'm Danny," said Danny, and Chris identified himself.
"Then this must be Jerry Elbow," the man remarked, stooping to pick Jerry up.
Jerry flung his arms about the man's neck and clung there desperately.
"Yes, sir, he's Jerry," Nora explained, as Celia Jane got up out of the road and brushed the dust from her dress.
"My name's Tom Phillips," said their new friend. "I knew your father, Dan Mullarkey, very well. He told me once how he found you by the roadside one stormy night far from any house, Jerry Elbow."
Jerry felt comforted in the strong arms of Mr. Phillips and at the pleasant, deep quality of his voice. He stopped crying except for the long, shuddering sobs that always came at intervals after he had cried so hard.
"Who said anything about taking you to the poor farm?" he asked Jerry.