"He says folks are going to laugh _at_ us or _with_ us, and--and
rich people have got to _act rich_. They got to be elegant." She
laughed loudly, abruptly, and the explosive nature of the sound
startled her as greatly as it did her hearer. "He's going to get
somebody to teach Buddy and me how to behave."

"I think he's right," Gray said, quietly.

"Why, he's sent to Fort Worth for a piano, already, and for a lady
to come out for a coupla days and show me how to play it!" There
was another black hiatus in the conversation. "We haven't got a
spare room, but--I'm quick at learnin' tunes. She could bunk in
with me for a night or two."

Gray eyed the speaker suspiciously, but it was evident that she
was in sober earnest, and the tragedy of such profound ignorance
smote the man sharply. Here was a girl of at least average
intelligence and of sensitive makeup; a girl with looks, too, in
spite of her size, and no doubt a full share of common sense
--perhaps even talents of some sort--yet with the knowledge of a
child. For the first time he realized what playthings of Fate are
men and women, how completely circumstance can make or mar them,
and what utter paralysis results from the strangling grip of
poverty.

History hints that during the Middle Ages there flourished an
association known as Comprachicos--"child-buyers"--which traded in
children. The Comprachicos bought little human beings and
disfigured their features, distorted their bodies, fashioned them