This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

WILD THINGS AND TAME

just where his understanding begins and ends," she said. "Mother tries to reason with him, but you can't reason with George. He hasn't any. You have to persuade him to do things."

"I suppose he'll do anything for you?"

"He'll do more for me than for any one else; but that is only because he feels that we are friends, and then I take more time with him. I spent twenty minutes this morning persuading him to scrub down the stairs. I couldn't have come if he hadn't, but I felt wicked to do it. Poor George hates housework as much as I do!"

"I wish you wouldn't compare yourself to that half-witted lump."

"Why?"

"He's hideous."

"Is he?" She seemed to meditate the matter. "I know, of course, that he is different from us, but I know him so well, and when you do you don't notice people's faces—that is, you don't notice them if they are not pretty."

"No doubt," Carron said grudgingly. "Beauty being only skin deep, and all that, I suppose is all very beautiful, but I feel uncomfortable every time that boy comes near me—or you."

"How queer that is! I don't mind a bit. I suppose it's because I'm not reasonable."

113