From 1967 vintage Scholastic cover:

"If you keep running away, Alice," says Miss Cannon, "I can't find the right home for you."

"Perhaps I won't ever find the right home," orphaned Alice says sadly.

Then--for just a few weeks--Alice goes to stay on a farm with the Potters. They are the happiest weeks in Alice's life. No one could want a more wonderful home or a better mother and father than Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

But Alice can't forget that she heard Mrs. Potter say, "You know, Miss Cannon, I really want a boy."