Circle of Love by Joan Lowery Nixon Read Free Book Online Page A

tears still on her cheeks.
    A thin-faced girl of about ten came to Frances. Smiling, she held up a doll with a battered face. *This is Baby," she said. "I found her in a trash can, and now she's mine."
    "She's lovely, Lucy," Frances said.
    "Yes, she is, isn't she? That's because Mrs. Dolan washed and ironed her dress for me."
    Frances watched Lucy as she walked off, showing her doll to Lottie. Suddenly Frances became aware that someone was standing beside her. She looked up

    to see Aggie Mae Vaughn. "Hello, Aggie," she said. "There's plenty of room here. Why don't you sit with me?"
    Aggie slid onto the sofa and gave Margaret a critical look. "She's a crybaby," Aggie said.
    "She's afraid," Frances told her. "I've cried when I was afraid. Haven't you?"
    "No," Aggie answered. "I never cry." She hesitated a moment before she said, "And I'm never afraid."
    Frances waited for what would come next. When she didn't speak, Aggie said, "Even when I broke a rule and had to go without supper, even when Miss Marchlander beat my hands with a ruler and told me no one would ever want to adopt me, I was never afraid, and I never cried."
    "I'm sorry that someone hurt you," Frances said. She took one of Aggie's hands, sliding soothing fingers across her palm, but Aggie jerked her hand away.
    "No need to feel sorry for me," Aggie said. "I learned my lesson. Miss Marchlander taught me not to let people hurt me. I'U never, never let anyone hurt me again. That's what I told her, and that's why she sent me away."
    "Oh, Aggie," Frances began, and stretched out a hand again.
    But Aggie stiffened. "She said I was a waif—somebody no one wants. But someone wiU want me. I'm going to have a real family. I'm going to live with people who love me and are good to me, until ..."
    Frances waited a moment, then asked, "Until what?"
    Aggie shook her head, murmuring, "Never mind."
    "You'll make someone a fine daughter," Frances

    said, tiying to smile reassuringly. Aggie looked as though she had something to tell her. Maybe she could be encouraged to confide her problem later.
    In a small voice Aggie said, "Fm not a cute baby. And Tm not pretty like Mary Beth and Nicola But somecHie will want me, won't they?"
    '"Of course they will," Frances said firmly, but she unhappily remembered some of the farm wives who only wanted foster daughters strong enough to handle the household chores. Aggie deserv^ed a much better life than that
    Miss Hunter s voice carried throughout the roont "Bedtime, children. Well arise early, because well have to travel to New Jersey to get the train."
    There was a sudden hush, as if each child was afraid to breathe or even think. Frances knew what they were feeling. Tomorrow they'd begin a very different kind of life. Frances had been in their shoes. And Frances remembered.
    "Come along now," Miss Hunter said. "Off to bed with you."
    As the children filed out of the room, Miss Hunter spoke quietly to Frances. "You got along with them nicely. I knew you would, you being a teacher."
    "I know how they feel," Frances said.
    *These poor little foundlings and waifs? Well, as best you can, I suppose."
    Frances didn't try to explain. She listened politely to Miss Hunter's advice about how to handle troublemakers, and how to arrange orderly visits to the small necessity in the railway car and to the privies at depot stops, and how to keep the boys from hanging out the train windows or climbing over the other passengers in the railway car.
    But Frances s mind went from child to child. No

    r
    matter whether there'd been tears or smiles, each of them was facing a difficxilt journey.
    "m be fine, and so will the children," Frances assured Miss Hunter. She meant what she said with all her heart and tried to push away the doubts that kept repeating, Don't be so sure. You know as well as you know your own name, Frances Mary Kellyy that on this trip anything can happen.

    The platform around the depot was bustling with travelers and well-wishers; salesmen