"James," said Paul Brennan quietly, "do you see you're making trouble for
your grandparents? Haven't we enough trouble as it is? Now, young man,
for the last time, will you walk or will you be carried? Whichever,
Jimmy, we're going back home!"

James Holden gave up. "I'll go," he said bitterly, "but I hate you."

"He'll be all right," promised Brennan. "I swear it!"

"Please, Jimmy, be good for Mr. Brennan," pleaded his grandmother. "After
all, it's for your own good." Jimmy turned away, bewildered, hurt and
silent. He stubbornly refused to say goodbye to his grandparents.

He was trapped in the world of grown-ups that believed a lying adult
before they would even consider the truth of a child.




CHAPTER THREE


The drive home was a bitter experience. Jimmy was sullen, and very quiet.
He refused to answer any question and he made no reply to any statement.
Paul Brennan kept up a running chatter of pleasantries, of promises and
plans for their future, and just enough grief to make it sound honest.
Had Paul Brennan actually been as honest as his honeyed tones said he
was, no one could have continued to accuse him. But no one is more
difficult to fool than a child--even a normal child. Paul Brennan's