are what he did, I love him just as well as if he was the
best man in the world. I love him better than if he was as good as
your father, because he needs it more. I've always loved him ever
since I found out about him. I'd write to him and tell him so, if Aunt
Beatrice would tell me where to send the letter. Aunt Beatrice won't
ever talk about him or let me talk about him, but I _think_ about him
all the time. And he's going to be a good man yet, yes, he is, just as
good as your father, Jimmy Morris. I'm going to _make_ him good. I
made up my mind years ago what I would do and I'm going to do it, so
there, Jimmy."

"I don't see what you can do," muttered Jimmy, already ashamed of what
he had said and wishing he had let Joey's father alone.

"I'll tell you what I can do!" Joey was confronting all the world now,
with his head thrown back and his face flushed with his earnestness.
"I can love him and stand by him, and I will. When he gets out of--of
prison, he'll come to see me, I know he will. And I'm just going to
hug him and kiss him and say, 'Never mind, Father. I know you're sorry
for what you've done, and you're never going to do it any more. You're
going to be a good man and I'm going to stand by you.' Yes, sir,
that's just what I'm going to say to him. I'm all the children he has
and there's nobody else to love him, because I know Aunt Beatrice
doesn't. And I'm going with him wherever he goes."

"You can't," said Jimmy in a scared tone. "Your Aunt Beatrice won't
let you."

"Yes, she will. She'll have to. I belong to my father. And I think
he'll be coming pretty soon some way. I'm pretty sure the time must be
'most up. I wish he would come. I want to see him as much as can be,
'cause I know he'll need me. And I'll be proud of him yet, Jimmy
Morris, yes, I'll be just as proud as you are of your father. When I
get bigger, nobody will call my father names, I can tell you. I'll
fight them if they do, yes, sir, I will. My father and I are going to
stand by each other like bricks. Aunt Beatrice has lots of children of
her own and I don't believe she'll be a bit sorry when I go away.
She's ashamed of my father 'cause he did a bad thing. But I'm not, no,
sir. I'm going to love him so much that I'll make up to him for
everything else. And you can just go home, Jimmy Morris, so there!"

Jimmy Morris went home, and when he had gone, Joey flung himself face
downward in the grass and fallen apple blossoms and lay very stil