"No more than you have."
"Very well, then. Now I make this bargain with you, Mrs. Chester. If ever anything should happen as'd make you want to take Sally away, you wouldn't take the baby away as well. She'd be mine, and you'd have no right to her. You understand?"
"Perfectly, and I'm quite agreeable. A mother's got enough to do with her own children, without being saddled with strange ones. Though this little one is a beautiful child, Mr. Dumbrick, and my heart warmed to her so that if I could afford it I'd be glad to keep her. God help those who've deserted her so cruelly!"
"Then it's a bargain, and I'll go and send Sally to you. You'd best keep the children with you till you go away. Then you can bring 'em to me, and make 'em over."
"You'll be kind to Sally, Mr. Dumbrick."
Seth rasped his chin with his horny hand. "As kind as it's in my nature to be; I can't promise more than that."
"And you won't mind her fainting away now and then; she'll get over it as she grows, I hope."
"I've had a sample, and I don't mind it much. To tell you the truth," he added grimly, "it amuses me."
Mrs. Chester looked doubtful; Sally's fainting dead away had not been an amusement to her, and she was fearful that Seth was disposed to make light of her child's misfortune; but the quaint smile which came to Seth's lips after his remark had so much of kindness in it that she was reassured.
"I can trust you, I think, Mr. Dumbrick."