‘Who was your companion?’
‘I’ll not answer that question,’ I replied, ‘because if I tell you who that companion was, I shall be acquainting you with more than I intend you shall know. But neither will I tell you any lies.’
He looked hard at my hands. I held them up close to his face and exclaimed: ‘Judge for yourself, sir. I have been no prisoner!’ and laughed.
‘You are the most impudent young dog I ever met,’ said he, with a sort of admiration in the anger of his looks. ‘Where were you educated?’
‘I never went to school; I was educated at home,’ I answered, feigning an air of shyness and swinging my leg.
‘Is your mother living?’
‘No, sir.’
‘Father?’
‘I have a stepfather,’ I answered.
‘And his is the home you have run away from, I suppose.’ He mused for a few moments and then said: ‘Put on your cap, and follow me.’