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Suddenly, before he expected it, he was safe amid theribs of the parasol.
Five
new sisters had been lately received to teach. It was inthe sky into which the
tree climbed. In fact she had almost forgottenabout Anthony.
The few children
who did comewere hastily sent elsewhere in sheer desperation. He reached out
asif to clutch all that lay below.
Through the long afternoons they talked;
they even played with him. Soit went for many a day with the good priest acting
as fatherindeed. A small window on one side looked into a court. She had long
given up bathing in the pool herself. Heturned to the right and started to
walk.
She could find nothing in him of thequalities Father Xavier had enlarged
upon. Gifts consequently continued to be forthcoming,and the convent flourished
according to its needs. Already his mood of complete happiness had
vanished.
The pigeons were literallyhis bosom friends. It seemed especially
suspicious thatsufficient money for a years nurture had been provided. The boy
began to climb toward the upper fork.
She looked like a mummy of the Cumaean
Sibyl preserved invinegar, said Mr. Instead shestarted a convent school for
prosperous young girls. Through the maze ofleaves below him, Anthony could hear
her clicking across theflagstones. Hebrought him a wooden horse, a ball, some
coloured stones and abroken abacus instead.
A policy of cautionand silence was
agreed upon. Even Father Xavier had come into thecourt looking for him and had
gone away. The narrow face of the priest worked with a surprised pity.
He began
to lie under thetree in a bowl of its great roots near the bronze boy and look
up.
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