now it was time
for our bath. And sure enough there was a bath of steaming water before
the fireplace, which was in quite another part of the room, so that
Dickie had not noticed the cans being brought in by a maid in a pink
print dress and white cap and apron.

"Come," said the lady, turning back the bed-clothes.

Somehow Dickie could not bear to let that lady see him crawl clumsily
across the floor, as he had to do when he moved without his crutch. It
was not because he thought she would make fun of him; perhaps it was
because he knew she would not. And yet without his crutch, how else was
he to get to that bath? And for no reason that he could have given he
began to cry.

The lady's arms were round him in an instant.

"What is it, dear? Whatever is it?" she asked; and Dickie sobbed out--

"I ain't got my crutch, and I can't go to that there barf without I got
it. Anything 'ud do--if 'twas only an old broom cut down to me 'eighth.
I'm a cripple, they call it, you see. I can't walk like wot you can."

She carried him to the bath. There was scented soap, there was a sponge,
and a warm, fluffy towel.

"I ain't had a barf since Gravesend," said Dickie, and flushed at the
indiscretion.

"Since _when_, dear?"

"Since Wednesday," said Dickie anxiously.

He and the lady had breakfast together in a big room with long windows
that the sun shone in at, and, outside, a green garden. There were a lot
of things to eat in silver dishes, and the very eggs had silver cups to
sit in, and all the spoons and forks had dogs scratched on them like the
one that was carved on the foot-board of the bed up-stairs. All except
the little slender spoon that Dickie had to eat his egg with. And on
that there was no dog, but something quite different.

"Why," said he, his face brightening with joyous recognition, "my
Tinkler's got this on it--just the very moral of it, so 'e 'as."

Then he had to tell all about Tinkler, and the lady looked thoughtful
and interested; and when the gentleman came in and kissed her, and said,
How were we this morning, Dickie had to tell about Tinkler all over
again; and then the lady said several things very quickly, beginning
with, "I told you so, Edward," and ending with "I knew he wasn't a
common child."

Dickie missed the middle part of what she said because of the way his
egg behaved, suddenly bursting all down one side and running over into
the salt, which, of course, had to be stopped at all costs