Chapters 1 and 2 Summary

The old woman is looking high and low and is calling out for the boy, Tom. Aunt Polly looks under the bed, in the garden, and finally in a closet from which he emerges and she is quick enough to grab him. By looking at his face, she can tell he has been in the jam and scolds him and just when she thinks she has him for good, he tells her to look behind her and when she does, he escapes. Tom's aunt knows full well that he will play hooky for the rest of the day but he is out of her grasp.

Polly scolds herself for not being wise to his tricks by now. Tom is her dead sister's son and she has taken him to raise and is trying to do good by him, but he is...