Chapter Twenty-FiveHe had only been messing around in the forest, daydreaming, and building tiny houses for make-believe creatures out of bark and bits of moss. Maybe Gilbert had heard his mother calling but transformed the sounds into the howling of a beast in his fantastical daydream, but in any case he had not stopped what he was doing to go home. He was angry about not being allowed to go to Madame Sutton’s house and so he took his time, getting home just before the sun went down even though he knew his mother would shriek at him and likely punish him for not coming when she called.
The next day he was back to worrying about Valerie. Gilbert wasn’t sure what his new plan was going to be, but wisely he decided to do what he could to get in good with Maman while he figured it out. It wa
