Her guest made no reply to this, but devoted himself to his supper with an avidity which left no doubt of his being hungry himself. Every drop of the milk had disappeared, every scrap of meat upon the mutton bone had been devoured before he spoke. Then he pushed back his chair. "Thank you," said he. "I 'ain't had nothin' ter eat since day before yesterday."
"Oh!" cried Theodora, "I don't wonder you were hungry! Won't you have something more? Why, how did it happen?"
"It happened 'cause I'm tired of askin' folks ter give me somethun when they don't want ter, and I 'ain't had no money ter pay for it, and yer can't get nothin' without payin' for it unless yer wants ter get chucked inter jail. So that is the reason I come here. I thought I'd get ter jail sooner or later, and I might as well try for somethun big first. Yer don't much care what yer do when yer as hungry as I was."
"What do you mean?" asked Teddy. "I don't quite understand what you say about jail."
The boy looked at her in silence for a moment or two. "Look ahere," said he, at last. "I thought I hated yer 'count o' that black eye yer give me long o' that cat. I 'ain't never been set onter by a girl before, and it jest made me rippin' mad. I didn't s'pose I'd ever git over it, and I'd 'a' liked ter 'a' paid yer back over and over again, but I feel diff'runt now. Yer've been mighty perlite, and give me as good a lot o' victuals as I ever tasted. I feel better, now I've got somethun inside o' me, and I'm agoin' ter tell yer somethun. I don't believe, after all, as yer the kind o' girl as would git me inter trouble."
"Oh no; of course not!" said Teddy, earnestly. "I was very mad at you that day, for I do think it is perfectly horrible for any one to hurt an animal. I'm sorry I hurt you very badly, but I may just as well tell you the truth. You had better never do it again if you see me anywhere near, for I am sure, perfectly sure, that it would make me just as mad as it did that day, and I am very much afraid I should attack you the same way. My aunts did not like my doing it at all, and they said it was unladylike, and I suppose it was. But oh! you don't know how angry it makes me to see any one cruel to animals!"
They were standing facing each other, the little girl in her pretty red frock, with the mass of tumbled brown hair falling over her shoulders; the tall ungainly boy in his ragged clothes, twisting his hat in his hands as he listened to this tirade. When she had finished, he lifted his eyes and looked at her admiringly.
"I WON'T STONE NO MORE KITTENS, NOT IF I CAN HELP IT, NOR PUPPIES NEITHER."
"Yer a good one," said he. "I kinder like yer underneath fer it, though yer did give me a black eye and make me mad. And yer've been that good ter me ter-night, givin' me such a lot ter eat, that I'm willin' ter promise yer somethun. I won't stone no more kittens, not if I can help it, nor puppies neither."