not there. He listened carefully, but he could not bear anything. He let himself quietly through the front door, at the moment his Aunt Hannah came from the sitting room into the front hall. She wore a cloth over her hair and in her hands she was carrying the smoking stand. She did not see him at first and he saw how fierce and lonely her face looked. He tried to make himself small but just then she wheeled on him, her lenses flashing, and exclaimed, “Rufus Follet, where on earth have you been!” His stomach quailed, for her voice was so angry it was as if it were crackling with sparks.
“Outdoors.”
“Where, outdoors! I’ve been looking for you all over the place.”
“Just out. Back in the alley.”
“Didn’t you hear me calling you?”
He shook his head.
“I shouted until my voice was hoarse.”
He kept shaking his head. “Honest,” he said.
“Now listen to me carefully. You mustn’t go outdoors today. Stay right here inside this house, do you understand?”
He nodded. He felt suddenly that he had done an awful thing.
“I know it’s hard to,” she said more gently, “but you’ve got to. Help Catherine with her coloring. Read a book. You promise?”
“Yes’m.”
“And don’t do anything to disturb your mother.”
“No’m.”
She went on down the hall and he watched her. What was she doing with the pipes and the ash trays, he wondered. He considered sneaking behind her, for he knew that she could not see at all well, yet he would be sure to get caught, for her hearing was very sharp. All the same, he sneaked along to
