Some people wondered that such a child could rhyme as
he did, but his rhymes were not very good, for he was only
trying to remember what he had heard the river sing at the back
of the north wind.
CHAPTER XVII
DIAMOND GOES ON
DIAMOND became a great favourite with all the men about the
mews. Some may think it was not the best place in the world for
him to be brought up in; but it must have been, for there he
was. At first, he heard a good many rough and bad words; but he
did not like them, and so they did him little harm. He did not
know in the least what they meant, but there was something in
the very sound of them, and in the tone of voice in which they
were said, which Diamond felt to be ugly. So they did not even
stick to him, not to say get inside him. He never took any
notice of them, and his face shone pure and good in the middle
of them, like a primrose in a hailstorm. At first, because his
face was so quiet and sweet, with a smile always either awake or
asleep in his eyes, and because he never heeded their ugly words
and rough jokes, they said he wasn't all there, meaning that he
was half an idiot, whereas he was a great deal more there than
they had the sense to see. And before long the bad words found
themselves ashamed to come out of the men's mouths when Diamond
was near.
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