hough poor, frightened
Giuseppe protested volubly in his own tongue and the little broken
English which he knew, for once on the streets, he feared that the bold,
bad Petri would find him and drag him away to dreadful punishments
again. But the harder he protested, the faster Peace jerked him along,
repeating over and over in her frantic efforts to make him understand,
"Petri shan't get you, Jessup. But if we stay there the Human Society
will, and that's just as bad. They killed Deacon Skinner's old horse in
Parker, and Tim Shandy's lame cow, and were coming to finish Jocko when
he died of his own self. You don't want to go the same way, do you?"

Poor Peace did not know the real mission of the Humane Society, or she
would not have been so shocked at the idea of little Giuseppe's falling
into their hands; but her fear had its effect upon the struggling
urchin, and his feet fairly flew over the ground, as he tried to keep
pace with his leader. When only half a block from the parsonage, Peace
abruptly halted, and the boy's dark eyes looked into hers inquiringly,
fearfully. What was the matter now? This was certainly a queer child at
his side. Perhaps it would have been wiser had he stayed with the
gentle-faced lady in the schoolhouse.

"Run," he urged, tugging at her hand when she continued to stand
motionless in the middle of the walk. "Petri geta me."

"No, no, Petri shan't have you, I say!" Peace declared savagely. "But if
I take you home to Saint Elspeth, like as not the Human Society will be
right there to nab you; and if they ain't now, Miss Curtis will send 'em
along as soon as she finds we've run away. Where can I take you?"

Anxiously she looked about her for a hiding place, and as if in answer
to her question, her glance rested upon the stone house, surrounded by
its tall hedges. "Sure enough! Why didn't I think of that before? My
Lilac Lady will take care of you, I know, until Saint John can find some
nice place for you to live always. Come on this way."

She whisked around the corner, threw open the gate, and ushered the
trembling waif into the splendid garden, with the announcement, "Here is
the place I mean, and there is the Lilac Lady under the trees."

The boy surveyed the masses of brilliant flowers, the sparkling
fountain, the shifting shadows of the great oaks above him where birds
were singing. Then he turned and scanned the white, sweet face among the
pillows, and clasping his thin hands in raptu