"They are very interesting people." "I am sure of it," he answered gravely, and he was very sure of it now.
"When I was a child," she went on in a matter-of-fact tone, "I used to make Father tell me all he could remember about the 'freaks,' as they called them.

The fat woman--her name was really Mrs.Coventry--was very kind to him when he was little, and he never forgot it.

He never forgets anybody who has ever been kind to him," she concluded with simple dignity.
An emotion which he could not define held Stephen speechless; and before he could command his words, she began again in the same cool and quiet voice.

"His mother ran away to marry his father.

She came of a very good family in Fredericksburg, and her people never forgave her or spoke to her afterward.