Garland detained her. She was very dainty and very confiding—very wise. She had unconsciously got very close to him. And Garland had vanquished his alarm of her.
"Me? I don' wish; but I got git you somethings eat. Soon you starve. I got."
But Garland would not let her go—and she was a willing captive, though she dissembled an urgent necessity.
"Where is Black-Eyes—and your mother? " asked Garland.
The girl seemed reluctant, but told him that they all worked in the neighboring silkmill, the pulsations of which he had heard in the night.
"Never mind. I 'd rather famish," said the impulsive Garland, with a strange remorse. "Will you assist?"
"Yaes," laughed the girl. "Me? I been famish—many times."
"Heavens!" breathed Garland, inventorying all her daintiness once more. "How much do your mother and sister earn? "
The girl seemed quite indifferent as to this.
"Sometime fi' sen; sometime ten—fifteen; one times, twenty-two."
"And you?"
