Not so a woman.Said Nora: "She seems to me to favor the Lenoxes.But I think--I _kind_ o' think--I see a _trace_of--of----" There she halted, waiting for encouragement.
"Of Galt?" suggested Fanny, in an undertone.
"Of Galt," assented Nora, her tone equally discreet."That nose is Galt-like and the set of the ears--and a kind of something to the neck and shoulders.""Maybe so," said Fanny doubtfully.She shook her head drearily, sighed."What's the use? Lorella's gone.And this morning General Galt came down to see my husband with a letter he'd got from Jimmie.Jimmie denies it.Perhaps so.Again, perhaps the General wrote him to write that, and threatened him if he didn't.But what's the use? We'll never know."And they never did.
When young Stevens was leaving, George Warham waylaid him at the front gate, separated from the spacious old creeper-clad house by long lawns and an avenue of elms."I hear the child's going to live," said he anxiously.
"I've never seen anything more alive," replied Stevens.
Warham stared gloomily at the ground.He was evidently ashamed of his feelings, yet convinced that they were human and natural.
A moment's silence between the men, then Stevens put his hand on the gate latch."Did--did--my wife----" began Warham."Did she say what she calculated to do?""Not a word, George." After a silence."You know how fond she is of babies.""Yes, I know," replied Warham."Fanny is a true woman if ever there was one." With a certain defiance, "And Lorella--she was a sweet, womanly girl!""As sweet and good as she was pretty," replied Stevens heartily.
"The way she kept her mouth shut about that hound, whoever he is!" Warham's Roman face grew savage, revealed in startling apparition a stubborn cruelty of which there was not a trace upon the surface."If I ever catch the---- ----I'll fill him full of holes.""He'd be lynched--_whoever_ he is," said Stevens.
"That's right!" cried Warham."This is the North, but it's near enough to Kentucky to know what to do with a wretch of that sort." His face became calmer."That poor little baby! He'll have a hard row to hoe."Stevens flushed a guilty red."It's--it's--a girl," he stammered.
Warham stared."A _girl_!" he cried.Then his face reddened and in a furious tone he burst out: "Now don't that beat the devil for luck!...A girl! Good Lord--a girl!""Nobody in this town'll blame her," consoled Stevens.
"You know better than that, Bob! A girl! Why, it's downright wicked...I wonder what Fanny allows to do?" He showed what fear was in his mind by wheeling savagely on Stevens with a stormy, "We can't keep her--we simply can't!""What's to become of her?" protested Stevens gently.
Warham made a wild vague gesture with both arms."Damn if Iknow! I've got to look out for my own daughter.I won't have it.
