‘Well, I’m happy to hear you did not discourage your sister on purpose, Thomas,’ Elizabeth said. ‘And I suppose you are correct that it will b... like that for girls when they do start letting us go to sea.’ ‘You know I wouldn’t tell her she couldn’t do something just because she’s a girl, don’t you, Auntie Elizabeth?’ Thomas demanded. ‘Of course I do, dear,’ Elizabeth said. ‘You’re a perfect gentleman.’ Thomas seemed mollified, and went back to the half-finished tea that Elizabeth was sure. In fact, there were times when she hoped that he did. Then she could justify her own feelings toward Byron by pointing out that he had similar ones toward Gloria.But now all she could think of was the girl's sudden departure. Where was she? What was she going to do? She told Jim that Gloria was staying the night over at one of her girl friends'. That was an excuse for one night, but what if she didn't come home tomorrow? What could she tell her husband then? And what if she did come home? Would. The elf girl’s bow was propped up next to her. If she knew how to use it, and could sneak through the forest well enough that he’d never seen her, she’d be of more use on the trail than Bobo, at least.“You can stay with us until we reach the West Road,” he said, absently scratching an itch on his left arm. “After that, we need to move faster, so we’ll be riding.”“The West Road is the one that goes east? The big road at the end of the little one?”“From here, it goes west and east. It’s just. Benny, of course, denied that there was anything wrong. He was spending more time lost in his head than ever before and he was loving every minute of it. How could there be something wrong when he was feeling so happy? As far as he was concerned, life was great!Tim settled immediately into his role as Benny’s protector. Tim took to staying over the night at the house. It usually was three nights a week, but when things were particularly busy for Benny at school, it was nearly every school.