found she was looking at The
Misfit squatting on the ground
in front of her. "I just know
you're a good man," she said
desperately. "You're not a bit
common!"
"Nome, I ain't a good man,"
The Misfit said after a second
as if he had considered her
statement carefully, "but I ain't
the worst in the world neither.
My daddy said I was a
different breed of dog from my
brothers and sisters. 'You
know,' Daddy said, 'it's some
that can live their whole life
out without asking about it and
it's others has to know why it
is, and this boy is one of the
latters. He's going to be into
every- thing!'" He put on his
black hat and looked up
suddenly and then away deep
into the woods as if he were
embarrassed again. "I'm sorry I
don't have on a shirt before you
ladies," he said, hunching his
shoulders slightly. "We buried
our clothes that we had on
when we escaped and we're
just making do until we can get
better. We borrowed these
from some folks we met," he
explained.
"That's perfectly all right," the
grandmother said. "Maybe
Bailey has an extra shirt in his
suitcase."
"I'll look and see terrectly,"
The Misfit said.
"Where are they taking him?"
the children's mother screamed.
"Daddy was a card himself,"
The Misfit said. "You couldn't
put anything over on him. He
never got in trouble with the
Authorities though. Just had
the knack of handling them."
"You could be honest too if
you'd only try," said the
grandmother. "Think how
wonderful it