akes. The pile of discarded paper massed higher than his finished
copy until Mrs. Bagley took over and began to retype his rough script
for him.

His state of mind remained chaotic.

Mrs. Bagley began to treat him with special care. She served him warm
milk and insisted that he rest. Finally she asked him why he drove
himself so hard.

"We are approaching the end of summer," he said, "and we are not
prepared."

"Prepared for what?"

They were relaxing in the living room, James fretting and Mrs. Bagley
seated, Martha Bagley asprawl on the floor turning the pages of a
crayon-coloring book. "Look at us," he said. "I am a boy of eight, your
daughter is a girl of seven. By careful dress and action I could pass for
a child one year younger, but that would still make me seven. Last summer
when I was seven, I passed for six."

"Yes, but--?"

"Mrs. Bagley, there are laws about compulsory education. Sooner or later
someone is going to get very curious about us."

"What do you intend to do about it?"

"That's the problem," he said. "I don't really know. With a lot of
concentrated effort I can probably enter school if I have to, and keep my
education covered up. But Martha is another story."

"I don't see--?" Mrs. Bagley bit her lip.

"We can't permit her to attend school," said James.

"You shouldn't have advertised for a woman with a girl child!" said Mrs.
Bagley.

"Perhaps not. But I wanted someone of my own age and size around so that
we can grow together. I'm a bit of a misfit until I'm granted the right
to use my education as I see fit."

"And you hope to make Martha another misfit?"

"If you care to put it that way," admitted James. "Someone has to start.
Someday all kids will be educated with my machine and then there'll be no
misfits."

"But until then--?"

"Mrs. Bagley, I am not worried about what is going to happen next year. I
am worried about what is going to happen next month."

Mrs. Bagley sat and watched him for a moment. This boy was worried, she
could see that. But assuming that any part of his story was true--and it
was impossible to doubt it--he had ample cause.

The past years had given Mrs. Bagley a hard shell because it was useful
for survival; to keep herself and her child alive she had had to be
permanently alert for every threat. Clearly this was a threat. Martha was
involved. Martha's future was, at the least, bound to be affected by what
James did.

And the ties of blood and h