Which she was subjected; for the uttering of the story would shatter, at
one word, she thought, the
confidence, the affection, and the kindliness of Ailleen. Of the threat
the man had made she thought nothing; he had made similar threats too
often
before, until she felt he only used them to goad her into deeper misery.
He was merciless and, to all save himself, treacherous--how much she
dared not think--but she would not believe that his threat to take her
boy from her was genuine.
All she could think of, as she sat huddled up on the ground, was to
cling to the belief that her boy would not be taken away, and that
somehow
the mental torture the man's existence caused her, and the physical pa
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