had agreed as to how she'd hafta let him take Jerry because her
insurance money from Mr. Mullarkey was all gone and she couldn't make
enough to support her own kids."

"It ain't so!" blustered Jerry, but all the time terribly frightened. He
tried to think of something to say that would show he was not afraid of
Darn Darner, who was always picking on little boys.

"You shan't go!" Celia Jane cried, tears running down her cheeks. She
flung both arms around Jerry's neck and squeezed him passionately.

"What will Kathleen do without Jerry?" asked Nora in a choked voice.

Jerry looked up and saw that she was quietly weeping, too. They believed
it! Believed that Mother 'Larkey would let them take him away! He had
been somewhat comforted by their stout assertions that Darn's words were
false, but now--!

He was stunned. Then his lips twisted and twitched and the tears that
had been forming in his eyes spilled silently over.

"Don't get scared, Jerry," Danny tried to comfort him. Then he turned to
the tormentor. "_Darn_ you, Darn, why can't you let him be!"

There it was! Just what Jerry wanted to show Darn he couldn't scare him.
His oozing courage flamed up in a final flare of desperation. Through
his tears and the choke in his throat he cried:

"_Darn_ Darn Darner! Darn! Darn! Darn! _Darn_ Darn Darner!"