That afternoon she told Jo, but she advanced toward her confession by so indirect a route that she mislead Mam’selle. "I wish you’d tell me about Tom Gavot," she said. "Why? What does Tom matter? Poor lad, he’s got a beast of a father." "Was his mother a beast?" "No. She was a sad, hunted soul." "It is too bad she died, if she had waited Tom would have taken her on his road." Jo looked up from her sewing. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "Tom Gavot. He used to play with the road and now he mends it. Some day he’s going to make roads. They’ll be splendid roads, I’m sure, and——" "What do you know of Tom Gavot, Donelle?" Jo started as she had when Donelle had told her of Dan Kelly. "Mamsey, don’t be angry, I know I should have told you. I don’t know why I didn’t, but while you were away I hurried and got through my work and then I was so lonely. I went out on the road—Nick and I, and I found Tom Gavot." "You’ve seen him—often?" And now Jo’s eyes were stern and frightened. "Why, yes, I suppose so. I didn’t count. It seems as if I had always known him. He’s wonderful. Besides knowing about roads, he knows books, all kinds. Father Mantelle teaches him. I’d like to go, too, and learn from Father Mantelle." "Well, you’ll not study with Tom Gavot!" Jo was perplexed. She decided to go the very next day to the priest. "Why not, Mamsey?" "One sort of learning for girls; another for boys." Jo snapped her thread. "I wonder why, Mamsey! They both travel the same road." The word made Jo nervous. "No, they do not!" she said sharply. "Well, I shall. You can choose your road, can’t you, Mamsey? I mean the sort of things you learn?" "No." "It’s all wrong then." "Stop asking stupid questions, child, about things you do not know," Jo broke in. "But that’s why I ask questions, because I don’t know. Are they stupid?" "Yes, very. Now come, Donelle, and help me get supper." It was mid-afternoon of the next day when Jo started for Father Mantelle’s. Her errand was a very simple one: she wanted the old man to teach Donelle. Not while he was instructing Tom Gavot, however! As she walked along the muddy road, picking her way as she could, Jo was thinking of how much or how little she should tell of her relations with Donelle. She had grown to accept what she felt people believed and it no longer caused her indignation; there were graver problems. But the incident that Donelle had related of her conversation with Dan Kelly had thoroughly aroused her. Her consciousness of injustice could not save her from the shock of the brutal meaning of Dan’s attitude.