I can use all that are not damaged."
"What if they are not pinned right," quavered Elnora.
"If they are perfect, that does not make the slightest difference. I
know how to soften them so that I can put them into any shape I choose.
Where are they? When may I see them?"
"They are in Freckles's old case in the Limberlost," said Elnora. "I
couldn't carry many for fear of breaking them, but I could bring a few
after school."
"You come here at four," said the Bird Woman, "and we will drive out
with some specimen boxes, and a price list, and see what you have to
sell. Are they your very own? Are you free to part with them?"
"They are mine," said Elnora. "No one but God knows I have them. Mr.
Duncan gave me the books and the box. He told Freckles about me, and
Freckles told him to give me all he left. He said for me to stick to the
swamp and be brave, and my hour would come, and it has! I know most of
them are all right, and oh, I do need the money!"
"Could you tell me?" asked the Bird Woman softly.
"You see the swamp and all the fields around it are so full," explained
Elnora. "Every day I felt smaller and smaller, and I wanted to know more
and more, and pretty soon I grew desperate, just as Freckles did. But
I am better off than he was, for I have his books, and I have a mother;
even if she doesn't care for me as other girls' mothers do for them,
it's better than no one."
The Bird Woman's glance fell, for the girl was not conscious of how much
she was revealing.
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