But I knew better, though I didn't see much use in telling
about it. In fact, I didn't know who to tell. I didn't know who would
look after Bob if Blipper didn't, in his own rough way. So I kept still,
though after Blipper and I quarreled, I threatened to tell. And now I
have."
"I'll see if we can find Bob's relatives," said Mr. Bobbsey. "If we
can't, why, I think he will be provided for."
"Oh, I'm so glad!" exclaimed Bob. "I'd rather belong to anybody but
Blipper!"
And, a few days later, inquiries having been made, it was found that
Bob's father and mother had died in a distant city and that, there being
no one to look after the poor boy, the Italian had taken him in. Then,
in some manner, Blipper got him and treated him harshly.
Bob was only a small boy when Mr. Blipper got control of him, and the
merry-go-round man told a wrong story about having taken the lad from an
orphan asylum. If Bob had been in an asylum he would have been well
treated, and no person would have been allowed to take him away until
they had been looked up, to make sure the boy would be well cared for.
Mr. Blipper forged, or made out himself, the papers showing that Bob was
his adopted son, and Bob was too small to know any better when Mr.
Blipper told him this and also told how he had been taken from an
asylum. Bob had only a dim remembrance of the Italian who looked after
him for a time, following the death of the boy's father and mother.
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