the child was older than she had thought. He might have been forty by his hard, unchildish expression.
"Do you want to be like your father?"
"No, I want to be like you. Couldn't a angel be prettier 'an you. Can I have more milk?"
Elnora emptied the flask. The boy drained the cup. He drew a breath of satisfaction as he gazed into her face.
"You wouldn't go off and leave your little boy, would you?" he asked.
"Did some one go away and leave you?" questioned Elnora in return.
"Yes, my mother went off and left me, and left Jimmy and Belle, too," said the boy. "You wouldn't leave your little boy, would you?"
"No."
The boy looked eagerly at the box. Elnora lifted a sandwich and uncovered the fried chicken. The boy gasped with delight.
"Say, I could eat the stuff in the glass, and the other box and carry the bread and the chicken to Jimmy and Belle," he offered.
Elnora silently uncovered the custard with preserved cherries on top and handed it and the spoon to the child. Never did food disappear faster. The salad went next, and a sandwich and half a chicken breast followed.
"I better leave the rest for Jimmy and Belle," he said, "they're 'ist fightin' hungry."
Elnora gave him the remainder of the carefully pre-
