Do you know what that is? It is a condition of soul common to all
mothers who have little boys that want to know things.

The worst of it is that one is expected to understand when he is
never to mind and when he _is_ to mind. They are not the same
thing; they are twins, and they are so hard to tell apart, and so
disagreeable, and act so much alike that only an expert can tell
which is which.

But Mother was an expert. She knew when you must and when you
mustn't; she had a talent for it. She also had a gift for telling
David that she would see. If he wanted to go swimming with Mitch
Horrigan in the creek near town, she said she would see about it,
but somehow she never did get it seen about.

That was one great difference between her and Dr. Redfield. He
did not say he would see; if given half a chance he always _did_
see, and there was something so magical about him that one felt
he was good for a miracle most any time. For all that, it was
hard to ask him for anything, for when in his presence one always
felt so queer and bashful and overpowered with the strange
medicine smells which were such a big part of him. Yet David now
felt that no boy has any right to hope for a father if he hasn't
spirit enough to ask for one. So firmly convinced of this was the
little boy that early in the morning he made up his mind as to
what he would do. It was something very daring and very naughty.
He was going to run away.

He did it, too, and the awfulness of it got into his throat; for
the Doctor lives farther away from David's house than China is.