At last he had got clear over the stile; and then he stood erect and put his finger in his mouth. You could tell that he was trying to think what to do now.
In the meantime Everychild and his companions had come up.
"Such a cute little chap," said Everychild. Then he spoke to the child. "Where are you going, little boy?" he asked.
The little boy looked at Everychild blankly. He looked at him quite a long time. Then he looked at the other members of the band. Finally he looked at Everychild again, still with a blank expression. But at last he replied, "I want to go home, but I dasn't."
The band of travelers all laughed at this; whereupon the little boy looked at all of them, one after another. He still had his finger in his mouth, where he kept crooking it and uncrooking it.
Then Cinderella asked: "Why dare you not go home?"
The little boy lowered his eyes until they rested on the ground. "Because I dasn't," he said.
"But why?" persisted Cinderella.
A pause; and then, "Because I'll catch a lickin'."
It seemed to Everychild that the little boy was much too small to be whipped; and he said with assurance, "You may go with us, if you will, and then you'll never get a whipping again."