But the effect upon Tom Canty’s mother and
sisters was different.  Their dread of bodily injury gave way at once to
distress of a different sort.  They ran forward with woe and dismay in
their faces, exclaiming--

“Oh, poor Tom, poor lad!”

The mother fell on her knees before the Prince, put her hands upon his
shoulders, and gazed yearningly into his face through her rising tears.