Drat the Biby, I believe 'e's swallowed 'is tin
soldier! No, 'ere it is, on the floor. But, as I was sayin', your ma and
mine might be sisters, in some wyes. Both of 'em lost their 'usbins,
young--"
"How did your father get lost?" Rosemary broke in, deeply interested.
"'E went to the dogs," replied Jane, mysteriously.
"Oh!" breathed the child, thrilled with a vague horror. She longed
intensely to know what had happened to her friend's parent after joining
his lot with that of the dogs, but was too delicate-minded to continue
her questioning, after such a tragic beginning. She wondered if there
were a kind of dreadful dog which made a specialty of eating fathers.
"And did he never come back again?" she ventured to enquire, at last.
"Not 'e. You never do, you know, if once you goes to the dogs. There
ain't no wye back. I was wonderin', since we've been acquainted, kiddy,
if your pa didn't go the sime road? It 'appens in all clarses."
"Oh no, my father was lost at sea, not on the road; and there aren't any
dogs there, at least I don't think so," said Rosemary.
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