"Of course you do not. That boy has been a most notorious pickpocket and thief."
"Exactly what I should have supposed."
"Did you observe that he had washed his face?"
"I think I observed how imperfectly it was done."
"Ah, but it is the first time probably in years that it has touched water, except when his lips touched it to drink. Do you know, that is a sign of reformation?"
"Water?"
"Washing. It is the hardest thing in the world to get them to forego the seal and the bond of dirt. It is a badge of the community of guilt. If they will be brought to wash, it is a sign that the bond is broken—that they are willing to be out of the community; which will I suppose regard them as suspected persons from that time. Now you can understand why I was glad."
Hardly; for the fire and water sparkling together in Eleanor's eyes expressed so much gladness that it quite went beyond Mr. Carlisle's power of sympathy. He remained silent a few moments.
"Eleanor, I wish you would answer one question, which puzzles me. Why do you go to that place?"
"You do not like it?"