ve him." I said nothing cause I knew neither you or Jim would give
him up unless you saw something in it for yourselves, and these people
are poor people and could not afford to pay you nothing. Then Mrs.
Smith moved over close to me and took my hand and said, "Nan, I am
going to say something that perhaps will hurt your feelings. Won't you
give Billy to me?" I said, "Why, I would love to, but I can't, he ain't
my Billy." Then Mrs. Smith said, "Now, don't be angry at me, I have
never said anything, but I have never believed that story about Billy
being your sister's baby. Isn't he your little boy?" At first I didn't
understand her, and then it all come over me what she meant. She thought
I had lied to her, thought I had made up that story about you being
Billy's mother. At first I was mad, not because she thought Billy was
mine, cause that don't make no difference one way or another, but I
hated to think she thought I had lied to her. She saw I was hurt and she
held my hand a little tighter and said, "Remember, child, I don't blame
you, and I don't think none the less of you. I have loved you for two
years and I will love you always, but if you want me to take Billy, I
must take him as his mother." Then she got up and kissed me and said,
"Don't answer me to-night, think it over and tell me to-morrow morning."
They left me alone that evening and I sat before the fire till midnight,
and when I went up to my room I stood by the window and looked over the
lake till the sun come up. And then it all come to me. I would give
Billy his chance. In a few months you were coming out, in a year Jim
would be out. You may settle down and be straight, but Jim--never. Billy
would grow up with crooks, would live around in little cheap rooms,
getting no education, playing on the streets nights, knowing nothing but
dirt all his life and quite likely spend most of his time after he grew
up in prison, all through no fault of his, but just because he didn't
have a chance. If he could go with Mrs. Smith he could live in a great
big out-of-doors country, where people have clean thoughts and live
clean lives, and instead of eating out of the garbage pails of life, he
could eat in a clean dining room with a white cloth on the table.

I went down in the morning and I did not say nothing until after
breakfast, then I said to Mrs. Smith, "Yes, you are right, I lied to
you. Billy is my baby." She come over and kissed me and said, "I knew
it, dear, and