"But I don't see how I can possibly—"
"If you won't help me, I'll go right down to the river. Oh, Miss Lydia, help me! Please, please help me!"
"But it's impos—"
Mary stopped crying. "It isn't. It's perfectly possible! You'll simply go away to visit some friends—"
"I haven't any friends, except in Old Chester—"
"And when you come back you'll bring—It with you. And you'll say you've adopted it. You'll say it's the child of a friend."
Miss Lydia was silent.
"If you won't help me," Mary burst out, "I'll—"
"Does anybody know?" said Miss Lydia.
"No."