hnnie tried to study out a
way of helping her. But he failed. And soon she began to fret, and move
impatiently, now sobbing softly, as if to herself, again only sighing.

He strove to soothe her. "It won't be long till mornin'," he declared.
"If y' could make b'lieve y' was in bed, and count sheep----"

"But the ropes hurt me!" she complained. "I want them off! They hurt me
awfully, and I feel sick!"

"Well," he proposed, "let's pretend y're so sick y' need a nurse,
and----"

But she would not wait for the rest of his plan. "Oh, that kind of
thinking won't help me!" she protested. "And I don't want anybody but my
mother!" Then sobbing aloud, "Oh, I want my mother! I want my mother!"

The cry smote his heart, bringing the tears that had not come when
Barber was beating him. Never before, in all the years he had known her,
had she cried out this longing. Saying scarcely anything of that mother
who was gone, leaving her so lonely, so bereft, always she herself had
been the little mother of the flat.

"Course y' do!" he whispered, gulping. "Course y' do!"

"If she'd only come back to me now!" she went on. "And put her arms
around me again!"

"Don't, Cis!" he pleaded tenderly. "Oh, please don't! Ain't y' got me?
That's pretty nice, ain't it? 'Cause we're t'gether. Here I am, Cis!
Right in reach, almost. Close by! Don't cry!"

But she was not listening. "Oh, Mother, why did you go and leave me?"
she wept. "Oh, Mother, I want you so much!"

Johnnie began to argue with her, gently: "But, Cis, think how Mister
Perkins likes y'! My! And he wants t' marry y'! And y'll have such a
nice place t' live in. Oh, things'll be _fine_!"

That helped a little; but soon, "I want to lie down!" she complained.
"Oh, Johnnie, it hurts to sit like this all the time! Can't you reach
me? Oh, try to untie me!"

"Cis, I can't," he protested, once more. "But it'll be mornin' before y'
know it! W'y, it's awful late in the night right now! I betcher it's
twelve--almost. So let's play a game, and the time'll pass so _quick_!"

"I can't wait till morning for a drink!" she cried. "I'm so thirsty! And
I want to lie down!"

"Now," he started off cheerily, "--now, we'll play the way we used t'
before y' got grown-up. Remember all the nice things we used t' do?
Callin' on the Queen, and dancin' parties, and----"

"My back hurts! Awful!"

"Let's try t' think jus' o' all our nice friends," he coaxed. "Mister
Perkins, and One-Eye, and Mrs. Kuk