But there was something real about Lily.

And she was fond of children.

She liked me.
She went out of her lazy way to teach me wisdom--oh, yes, it was wisdom," in answer to Spence's horrified exclamation, "hard, sordid wisdom, the only wisdom which would have helped me through the back alleys of those days.

I am unspeakably grateful to Lily.

She spared me much, and once she saved me--I can't tell you about that," she finished simply.
Spence bit his lip on a word to which the expression of his face gave force and meaning.