"You're such a brave, brave woman, Inza!" she exclaimed. "Oh, you make me feel like a coward!"
"Come here, Hodge," urged Frank, drawing his friend round to the other side of the bed. "Here's the boy. Here he is—Frank Hodge Merriwell."
"Frank Hodge Merriwell?" echoed Bart, fumbling for Merry's hand and grasping it with an almost savage grip. "You've given him my name?"
"We did it—both of us together, old man."
"Merry, I—I don't know what—to say," stammered Bartley. "You've completely upset me. It's the greatest honor——"
"There, there," smiled Frank, "don't splutter and mumble like that, old fellow. You don't have to say a word. Just make a bow to the new-born king."
Elsie was not one to gush, but, with clasped hands and flushed face, she expressed her admiration for the child.
"You ought to feel proud, Bart," she said. "You ought to feel almost as proud as Frank."
"Proud?" laughed Hodge. "Why, I—I—— My chest has expanded three inches in the last thirty seconds. Proud? I'll bet my hat won't fit me! He's a star, the little rascal!"
"He has ze star on his left shouldaire," said Lizette. "Shall I show it, madame? Shall I show zem ze beautiful mark?"