"It's worth anything," David said to Matilda one day that week, "to see the fellow eat strawberries."
"Strawberries! O did you take strawberries to him!" cried Matilda. "And he liked them?"
"You could almost see the red of the strawberries getting up into his cheeks. He's not quite so far as that, though. Like them! He raised himself half up and lay on his elbow to eat them. Think of that! You should have seen the fellow. Spoons were no go. He just forked them in with his fingers."
"Does he lie in the entry yet, David?"
"No. His mother has got him into her bit of a room, and the wash tub is where he was. I do think we might get him into the country next week, if there was any place he could go to. He's like another boy, with a bed under him and clean things and food that he can eat. I do believe he was starving to death. Sick folks can't get along on dry crusts, or even mush—plain, without butter or molasses," said David smiling.
"David, I have thought of something."
"What is it? Something to help us out of the difficulty?"
"I don't know. See what you think. You heard Miss Redwood and me talking of Lilac lane, and people that live in it?"
"I heard nothing of Lilac lane; never did, till this minute."
"O you were in the study with Mr. Richmond. It is a place in Shadywalk where some very poor people live."