She gave a shake of her head.  "No, not because of you.  You had your reasons, and we would, I hope, would have settled it out and been friends.  I have to leave because I had a secret and it was too huge.  I told your sister as I wanted to have a normal life here, and be friends and work hard.  But Mr. Appleton is not going to let me stay when he finds out."  She shifted the sack over her shoulders.  "I just liked it so much here already that I had to tell the truth about who I am."

She gave Jimmy an apologetic look.  "I am not a boy, Jimmy, I'm a girl.  I've been living on the streets as a boy since my folks were killed to not have to be taken to orphanages or to bad people.  I heard things about how they might treat girls that are not so young to be cute to be adopted.  I didn't want that kind of life.  I wanted a different kind of life.  Like you have here, actually."  She gave a wry twist of her lips.  "Enjoy it, Jimmy.  It is worth being honest and working hard."