shifted his feet uneasily.

"And he can't see a thing--not a thing?" breathed Mazie.

"'Course he can't, if he's blind!" Keith showed irritation now, and
pulled not too gently at the arm still held in Mazie's firm little
fingers.

"Blind! Ugghh!" interposed Miss Dorothy, shuddering visibly. "Oh, how
can you bear to look at him, Keith Burton? I couldn't!"

A sudden wave of red surged over the boy's face. The next instant it
had receded, leaving only a white, strained terror.

"Well, he ain't to blame for it, if he is blind, is he?" chattered the
boy, a bit incoherently. "If you're blind you're blind, and you can't
help yourself." And with a jerk he freed himself from Mazie's grasp
and hurried down the road toward home.

But when he reached the bend of the road he turned and looked back.
The two girls had returned to their perch on the fence, and were
deeply absorbed in something one of them held in her hand.

"And she said she couldn't bear--to look at 'em--if they were blind,"
he whispered. Then, wheeling about, he ran down the road as fast as he
could. Nor did he stop till he had entered his own gate.

"Well, Keith Burton, I should like to know where you've been," cried
the irate voice of Susan Betts from the doorway.