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Having

"How do you know our na her ar for you," Eleanor said after a second’s silence during which Villiers tried to figure out how to say Because I’irl’s chin jutted out "You can tell Mrs Minches eat her ankles, because we aren’t going back"

"I agree," Villiers said

"Ever"

"Would you like to get out of the blanket box now?" Eleanor inquired "I can assure you that Oyster won’t hurt you"

The bolder girl cli, just a rough goith no stockings and one shoe Oyster started forward and began ss with an air of deep interest

She certainly had an interesting odor; Villiers identified it iht of it, all four of theent

"Oyster won’t hurt you," Eleanor said encouragingly "He’s just a puppy"

Lucinda gave Oyster a pat He had finished sniffing her legs, so he sat back down, looked up at her face and gave a brisk command

"What does he want?" Lucinda asked

"He wants you to give him a proper pat," Eleanor said "And scratch his ears He likes that Would you care to come out of the box?" she asked Phyllinda

Phyllinda shook her head

Lucinda sat down on the floor of the carriage while Oyster ju licked her face Villiers watched with soed from all the dirt

But he didn’t see what she really looked like until he pulled Oyster outside, bringing Lucinda with him And then he aleous dark lilac, the color of larkspur in late surandmother’s eyes--" he started to say to Eleanor, then realized that she was still inside the carriage He poked a head in to find that she had coaxed Phyllinda out of the box

"He’s not a bad dog," Eleanor was saying "If you just peek out the door, you’ll see your sister playing with him Oyster is just a puppy"

But Villiers took one look at Phyllinda’s terrified, obstinate face and knew that it was all too ht in a pigsty, presu eaten; she’d escaped the sty only to find her way--God kno--into their carriage; and now she was risking being chewed by a wild dog Her instincts for self-preservation had clearly been honed inside the orphanage

"Here," he said, plucking her off the seat

Her body went rigid, but he scooped her against his shoulder and backed out of the carriage

It was only when he turned around that he realized what an audience they had drawn By now, ed fro transfixed

Eleanor bent over Lucinda, now sitting on the ground with Oyster in her lap "If you stand up and come with us, Oyster will co straight ahead, as was proper, but Villiers could see his ears practically wiggle as he listened

"This is Lucinda, and this is Phyllinda," he said "Lucinda, stand up" She scra the servants, as if wind blew through a pile of straw

"Does anyone knohere my son is?" Villiers inquired

They all looked around, as if soe this o or return?"

No one said a word