She insisted on teaching him the simple little one she had used herself when a child . When Chester found that it would please her , he said it every night . There was nothing he would not have done for Miss Salome . She talked a good deal to him about Johnny and she gave him the jack-knife that Johnny had owned . `` It belonged to a good , manly little boy once , '' she said , `` and now I hope it belongs to another such . '' `` I ai n't very good , '' said Chester repentantly , `` but I 'll try to be , Miss Salome -- honest , I will . '' One day he heard Miss Salome speaking of someone who had run away from home . `` A wicked , ungrateful boy , '' she called him . Chester blushed until his freckles were drowned out in a sea of red , and Clemantiny saw it , of course . When did anything ever escape those merciless black eyes of Clemantiny 's ? `` Do you think it 's always wrong for a fellow to run away , Miss Salome ? '' he faltered . `` It ca n't ever be right , '' said Miss Salome decidedly . `` But if he was n't treated well -- and was jawed at -- and not let go to school ? '' pleaded Chester . Clemantiny gave Miss Salome a look as of one who would say , You 're bat-blind if you ca n't read between the lines of that ; but Miss Salome was placidly unconscious . She was not really thinking of the subject at all , and did not guess that Chester meant anything more than generalities . `` Not even then , '' she said firmly . `` Nothing can justify a boy for running away -- especially as Jarvis Colemen did -- never even left a word behind him to say where he 'd gone . His aunt thought he 'd fallen into the river . ''
`` Do n't suppose she would have grieved much if he had , '' said Clemantiny sarcastically , all the while watching Chester , XXXXX he felt as if she were boring into his very soul and reading all his past life .
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