“Like the rest of us he’ll have to make do with what he’s given,” she tells them. Billy’s hopes are raised when a kindly woman offers to deliver a bundle of boy’s hand-me-downs for poor Billy to wear, but Mrs Postlethwaite respectfully declines the offer. “There are needier boys in the world than this one,” she states before assuring the woman that he won’t go without.
“Well… if you change your mind you know where I am.” the woman says as she looks down on the boy and smiles. Billy looks up at her with pleaful eyes, silently begging her to bring him some boy’s clothes to wear. “He does actually look very pretty… for a boy.” the woman adds before bidding them farewell and going on her way.