“It might be.” Peter planned to question Danny about it, but when they stopped at the orphanage they were told that the boy was off again on one of his expeditions.
“He never tells me where he’s going, but he knows that I know he always goes to the beaver dam,” the matron confided.
“Are you sure?” asked Judy. “If he used to live in that house with the boarded-up windows he might go there.”
Meta Hanley shook her head. “I don’t think so. The house is locked. Danny told me himself that he wished he could get in. All the Andersons’ things are stored there. George Anderson is supposed to return and make a home for Danny, but he never comes.”
“Do you know why?” asked Peter.
“He’s working. Danny showed me a letter from him,” one of the orphans spoke up. There were always little groups of them standing around, listening.
“It had a Canadian stamp on it,” another orphan volunteered.
“Yes,” the matron agreed. “Danny’s father is working in Canada. He writes to him regularly, but Danny never shows me the letters. A ten-year-old has a right to some privacy. His mother, as you know, is dead.”
“We know.” Judy agreed with Meta Hanley about Danny’s right to privacy, and yet she felt sure the matron must be curious.
“You’ll have to ask Danny,” was all she could say.