her eyes and attempted to explain. "I'm tryin' to get a place," she
began, "but nobody wants to take Tommy too. I can't carry him any
further, and I don't know where to go, and it's 'most night--" again
the sobs choked her.

"Lawsee!" said Mrs. Wiggs, "don't you let that worry you! I can't take
you home, 'cause Asia an' Australia an' Europeny are sleepin' in one
bed as it is; but you kin git right in here with Miss Hazy, can't she,
Miss Hazy?"

The hostess, to whom Mrs. Wiggs was an oracle, acquiesced heartily.

"All right: that's fixed. Now I'll go home an' send you all over some
nice, hot supper by Billy, an' to-morrow mornin' will be time enough
to think things out."

Lovey Mary, too exhausted to mind the dirt, ate her supper off a
broken plate, then climbed over behind Tommy and the flour-sifter, and
was soon fast asleep.

The business meeting next morning "to think things out" resulted
satisfactorily. At first Mrs. Wiggs was inclined to ask questions and
find out where the children came from, but when she saw Lovey Mary's
evident distress and embarrassment, she accepted the statement that
they were orphans and that the girl was seeking work in order to take
care of herself and the boy. It had come to be an unwritten law in the
Cabbage Patch that as few questions as possible should be asked of
strangers. People had come there before who could not give clear
accounts of themselves.