ā€œOh, I can carry it,ā€ the child responded cheerfully. ā€œIt isn’t heavy. I’ve got all my worldly goods in it, but it isn’t heavy. And if it isn’t carried in just a certain way the handle pulls out⁠—so I’d better keep it because I know the exact knack of it. It’s an extremely old carpetbag. Oh, I’m very glad you’ve come, even if it would have been nice to sleep in a wild cherry tree. We’ve got to drive a long piece, haven’t we? Mrs. Spencer said it was eight miles. I’m glad because I love driving. Oh, it seems so wonderful that I’m going to live with you and belong to you. I’ve never belonged to anybody⁠—not really. But the asylum was the worst. I’ve only been in it four months, but that was enough. I don’t suppose you ever were an orphan in an asylum, so you can’t possibly understand what it is like. It’s worse than anything you could imagine. Mrs. Spencer said it was wicked of me to talk like that, but I didn’t mean to be wicked. It’s so easy to be wicked without knowing it, isn’t it? They were good, you know⁠—the asylum people. But there is so little scope for the imagination in an asylum⁠—only just in the other orphans. It

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