She was
'bout seven or eight years old, and the cunnin'est young un ye ever see.
Jus' the same eyes she's got now, only they looked bigger, 'cause her
cheeks was caved in."
"Not Ruby, Jim!" I cried, in astonishment.
"Yes, Ruby. That's what was on the tag."
"And she isn't Marvin's child?"
"No more'n she's yourn, nor mine. She ain't nobody's child that anybody
knows about. She's jus' Ruby, and that's all there is to her.
"Well, by the time I'd got her out to the farm and had heared her talk
and seen her clap her hands at the chippies, and laugh at the birds, and
go half wild over every little thing she'd see, I knowed I'd got hold o'
something that filled up every crack o' my heart. And she didn't come a
day too soon, for Jed had got so ugly there warn't no livin' with him,
and I'd made up my mind to quit, and I would if he hadn't took a streak
ag'in Ruby at the start. Then I knowed where my trail led. And arter
that I never let her out o' my sight. Marm Marvin was different.
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