there-one did not have to acquire it.
'Oh, some people do,' she said quite casually. 'That is what we are trying to stop.'
She had to wait several moments of silence before he asked the question she had hoped for.
'Why are you trying to do that, Mrs. Pitt? It doesn't seem fair to me. Why should people have to unpick old clothes for pennies if they could earn more money doing something else?'
'I don't want them to pick rags.' She used the term quite familiarly now. 'At least not for that sort of money. But I don't want them to be prostitutes either, most particularly not if they are still children.' She hesitated, then plunged on. 'Especially boys.'
The pride of man in him did not want to admit ignorance. He was in the company of a woman, and one whom he considered very handsome. It was important to him that he impress her.
She sensed his dilemma and pushed him into an emotional comer.
'lexpect when it is put like that, you would agree?' she asked, meeting his very candid eyes. What fine, dark lashes he had!
'I'm not sure,' he hedged, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. 'Why especially boys? Perhaps you would give me your reasons?'
She admired his evasion. He had managed to ask her without sounding as if he did not know, which she now was almost sure was so. She must be careful not to lead him, to put words into his mouth. It took her longer than she had expected to frame just the right answer.
'Well, I think you would agree that all prostitution is unpleasant?' she began carefully, watching him.
'Yes.' He followed her lead; the reply she expected was plain enough.
'But an adult has more experience of the world in general, and therefore has more understanding of what such a course will involve,' she continued.
Again the answer suggested itself. 253
'Yes.' He nodded very slightly.
'Children can much more easily be forced into doing things they either do not wish or else of which they cannot foresee the full consequences.' She smiled very faintly so she would not sound quite so pompous.
' 'Of course.'' He was still young enough to feel echoes of the bitterness of authority, governesses who gave orders and expected early bedtimes, all vegetables eaten-and rice pudding-no matter how much one disliked them.
She wanted to be gentle with him, to let him keep his new, adult dignity, but she could not afford it. She hated having to shred it from him like precious clothes, leaving him naked.
'Perhaps you do not argue that it is worse for boys than for girls?' she inquired.
He flushed, his eyes puzzled. 'What? What is worse? Igno-ranee? Girls are weaker, of course-'
'No-prostitution-selling their bodies to men for the most familiar acts.'
He looked confused. 'But girls are . . .' The color deepened painfully as he realized how acutely personal a subject they were touching.
She said nothing, but picked up the pen and paper again so he could have an excuse to avoid her eyes.
'I mean girls-' He tried again: 'Nobody does that sort of thing with boys. You're making fun of me, Mrs. Pitt!' His face was scarlet now. 'If you are talking about the sort of thing that men and women do, then it's just stupid to talk about men and other men-I mean boys! That's impossible!' He stood up rather abruptly. 'You are laughing at me and treating me as if I'm a baby-and I think that is very unfair of you-and most impolite!'
She stood iip, too, bitterly sorry to have humiliated him, but there had been no other way.
'No, I'm not, Titus-believe me,' she said
