Salome pictured him so , with his long , curling lashes brushing his rosy , tear-stained cheek and his chubby fists clasped tightly over his breast as was his habit ; her heart grew warm and thrilling with the maternity the picture provoked . A year previously Lionel Hezekiah 's parents , Abner and Martha Smith , had died , leaving a houseful of children and very little else . The children were adopted into various Carmody families , and Salome Marsh had amazed Judith by asking to be allowed to take the five-year-old `` baby . '' At first Judith had laughed at the idea ; but , when she found that Salome was in earnest , she yielded . Judith always gave Salome her own way except on one point . `` If you want the child , I suppose you must have him , '' she said finally . `` I wish he had a civilized name , though . Hezekiah is bad , and Lionel is worse ; but the two in combination , and tacked on to Smith at that , is something that only Martha Smith could have invented . Her judgment was the same clear through , from selecting husbands to names . '' So Lionel Hezekiah came into Judith 's home and Salome 's heart . The latter was permitted to love him all she pleased , but Judith overlooked his training with a critical eye . Possibly it was just as well , for Salome might otherwise have ruined him with indulgence . Salome , who always adopted Judith 's opinions , no matter how ill they fitted her , deferred to the former 's decrees meekly , and suffered far more than Lionel Hezekiah when he was punished . She sat on the stairs until she fell asleep herself , her head pillowed on her arm . Judith found her there when she came in , severe and triumphant , from her bout with the henhouse door . Her face softened into marvelous tenderness as she looked at Salome . `` She 's nothing but a child herself in spite of her age , '' she thought pityingly . `` A child that 's had her whole life thwarted and spoiled through no fault of her own . And yet folks say there is a God who is kind and good ! If there is a God , he is a cruel , jealous tyrant , and I hate Him ! ''
XXXXX 's eyes were bitter and vindictive .
Abner Hezekiah Judith Lionel Salome Smith five-year-old henhouse houseful year