"She may be innocent," was the thought; "but through her came the injury to my son." Taffy by this time had no doubt at all.

It was George who poisoned Honoria's ear; George's shame and Honoria's pride would explain why the whisper had never gone further; and nothing else would explain.
Did his mother guess this?
He believed so at times, but they never spoke of it.
The lame child was often in the Raymonds' kitchen.

Lizzie did not forbid or resent this.

And he liked Humility, and would talk to her at length while he nibbled one of her dripping-cakes.

"People don't tell the truth," he observed sagely on one of these occasions.
(He pronounced it "troof," by the way.) "_I_ know why we live here.
It's because we're near the sea.