“What did you kiss me for, Tom?”

“Because I loved you so, and you laid there moaning and I was so sorry.”

The words sounded like truth. The old lady could not hide a tremor in her voice when she said:

“Kiss me again, Tom!⁠—and be off with you to school, now, and don’t bother me any more.”

The moment he was gone, she ran to a closet and got out the ruin of a jacket which Tom had gone pirating in. Then she stopped, with it in her hand, and said to herself:

“No, I don’t dare. Poor boy, I reckon he’s lied about it⁠—but it’s a blessed, blessed lie, there’s such a comfort come from it. I hope the Lord⁠—I know the Lord will forgive him, because it was such good-heartedness in him to tell it. But I don’t want to find out it’s a lie. I won’t look.”