Gladiator Read Online Free PDF Page B

had not been hurt.
    Danner made a pen of the iron heads and feet of two old beds. He wired them together. The baby was kept in the inclo-sure thus formed. The days warmed and lengthened. No one except the Danners knew of the prodigy harboured by their unostentatious house. But the secret was certain to leak out eventually.
    Mrs. Nolan, the next-door neighbour, was first to learn it. She had called on Mrs. Danner to borrow a cup of sugar. The call, naturally, included a discussion of various domestic matters and a visit to the baby. She voiced a question that had occupied her mind for some time.
    â€œWhy do you keep the child in that iron thing? Aren’t you afraid it will hurt itself?”
    â€œOh, no.”
    Mrs. Nolan viewed young Hugo. He was lying on a large pillow. Presently he rolled off its surface. “Active youngster, isn’t he?”
    â€œVery,” Mrs. Danner said, nervously.
    Hugo, as if he understood and desired to demonstrate, seized a corner of the pillow and flung it from him. It traversed a long arc and landed on the floor. Mrs. Nolan was startled. “Goodness! I never saw a child his age that could do that!”
    â€œNo. Let’s go downstairs. I want to show you some tidies I’m making.”
    Mrs. Nolan paid no attention. She put the pillow back in the pen and watched while Hugo tossed it out. “There’s something funny about that. It isn’t normal. Have you seen a doctor?”
    Mrs. Danner fidgeted. “Oh, yes. Little Hugo’s healthy.”
    Little Hugo grasped the iron wall of his miniature prison. He pulled himself toward it. His skirt caught in the floor. He pulled harder. The pen moved toward him. A high soprano came from Mrs. Nolan. “He’s moved it! I don’t think I could move it myself! I tell you, I’m going to ask the doctor to examine him. You shouldn’t let a child be like that.”
    Mrs. Danner, filled with consternation, sought refuge in prevarication. “Nonsense,” she said as calmly as she could. “All we Douglases are like that. Strong children. I had a grandfather who could lift a cider keg when he was five—two hundred pounds and more. Hugo just takes after him, that’s all.”
    Mrs. Nolan was annoyed. Partly because she was jealous of Hugo’s prowess—her own children had been feeble and dull. Partly because she was frightened—no matter how strong a person became, a baby had no right to be so powerful. Partly because she sensed that Mrs. Danner was not telling the whole truth. She suspected that the Danners had found a new way to raise children. “Well,” she said, “all I have to say is that it’ll damage him. It’ll strain his little heart. It’ll do him a lot of harm. If I had a child like that, I’d tie it up most of the time for the first few years.”
    â€œKate,” Mrs. Danner said unpleasantly, “I believe you would.”
    Mrs. Nolan shrugged. “Well—I’m glad none of my children are freaks, anyhow.”
    â€œI’ll get your sugar.”
    In the afternoon the minister called. He talked of the church and the town until he felt his preamble adequate. “I was wondering why you didn’t bring your child to be baptized, Mrs. Danner. And why you couldn’t come to church, now that it is old enough?”
    â€œ Well,” she replied carefully, “the child is rather—irritable. And we thought we’d prefer to have it baptized at home.”
    â€œIt’s irregular.”
    â€œWe’d prefer it.”
    â€œVery well. I’m afraid—” he smiled—“that you’re a little—ah—unfamiliar with the upbringing of children. Natural—in the case of the first-born. Quite natural. But—ah—I met Mrs. Nolan to-day. Quite by accident. And she said that you kept the child—ah—in an iron pen. It seemed unnecessarily cruel to me—”
    â€œDid