So they did not even stick to him, not to say get inside him.

He never took any notice of them, and his face shone pure and good in the middle of them, like a primrose in a hailstorm.

At first, because his face was so quiet and sweet, with a smile always either awake or asleep in his eyes, and because he never heeded their ugly words and rough jokes, they said he wasn't all there, meaning that he was half an idiot, whereas he was a great deal more there than they had the sense to see.

And before long the bad words found themselves ashamed to come out of the men's mouths when Diamond was near.

The one would nudge the other to remind him that the boy was within hearing, and the words choked themselves before they got any farther.