affectionate, and put her arm about Jerry's neck.

Darn stepped directly in front of Jerry and stared coolly down at him
until Jerry was so uncomfortable that he couldn't raise his eyes from
the ground.

"You're goin' to the poor farm Wednesday morning," he said calmly,
"because Mrs. Mullarkey's too poor to keep you any longer. She can't
make enough to keep her own kids."

Jerry felt suddenly very little and all alone in a big cold world. Fear
had entered his heart. He felt that Mrs. Mullarkey not only hadn't been
able to make both ends meet but that she was never going to be able to
do it. He some way knew that Darn Darner was telling the truth and that
soon he would be torn away from the only home he could remember. His
lips twisted and he felt the hot tears filling his eyes. Yet he denied
Darn's statement with all his soul.

"They won't! They shan't take me! I'll run away first!"

"Much good that would do you," commented Darn unsympathetically. "It'd
be easy enough to find you."

"How do you know they're goin' to take Jerry away?" asked Chris.

"He don't know it!" cried Nora. "He's jest tryin' to scare us."

"No, I ain't," denied Darn. "My father's overseer of the poor in this
county and I guess I heard him tell mamma last night that he was goin'
to take Jerry to the poor farm Wednesday morning. He said Mrs. Mullarkey