10IN ANOTHER island-town of Quezon province, off its eastern coast facing the Pacific Ocean, the children gave no warm welcome to Katherine. One of them, Mildred, looked accusingly at Katherine and Phirun when they arrived at the convent earlier. Seated at a dining table where her other friends were having supper, Mildred continued to mentally assess the visitors. The girl was the only one among her group who was not shy or intimidated to look at Katherine and Phirun; the others might not be shy, but they had stronger self-control not to show interest. Strange, that was how Mildred would like to describe the visitors in her mind. In her estimate, not that she was good with numbers and in computing, Phirun was the same age as she when her horrible past began—when that man she called father,
