“Did they beat you today?” Hazel Edwards questioned.
“No,” replied the youth with a puzzled look; “they don’t want you to know they whipped me. They stopped it after you came and after a man came and told ’em not to.”
“Who is the man?” Hazel asked.
“I don’t know. I heard his name, but I forgot.”
“Was it Langford?”
“Yes, that’s it—Langford. He told ’em all to be good as pie to me while you was here. They thought I was asleep, but I was just pretendin’.”
“Did Mr. Langford say why they must be good to you while we were here?” asked Katherine.
“I guess he did,” the boy replied slowly. “He said somebody’d take me away and Mom ’u’d lose a lot o’ money.”
“That’s just what we thought,” Hazel declared.
“What else did you overhear?” Katherine inquired.