"Well, but there are other things you could do," pleaded Max, with vague
thoughts of setting his own sisters to work to find this erratic child
of the riverside some more seemly mode of life than her present one.

"What other things?"

"Why, you could--you could teach in a school or in a family."

"No, I couldn't. I don't know enough. And I wouldn't like it, either.
And I should have to leave Granny, who wants me, and is fond of me--"

"And Dick!" burst out Max, spitefully. "You would have to give up the
society of Dick."

It was possible, even in the darkness, to perceive that this remark
startled Carrie. She said, in astonishment which she could not hide:

"And what do you know about Dick?"

"I know that you wouldn't care for a life that is repugnant to every
notion of decency, if it were not for Dick," retorted Max, with rash
warmth.

Carrie laughed again.

"I'm afraid you got your information from the wrong quarter," said she,
quietly. "Not from Dick himself, that's certain."

There was some relief to Max in this confident assertion, but not much.
Judging Dick by his own feelings, he was sure that person had not