And with curiosity he passes his little fingers over the black down on his father’s lip.
“And you have a dimple on the chin, just like Granny!”
He kisses it.
“Why are Daddy’s hands so hard?”
“It is from the axe, Alexis. I have been building ships beyond the seas. Wait until you grow up and I’ll take you with me! Would you like to go across the seas?”
“Yes, I would. Where daddy goes, I would like to go too. I want to be with daddy always.”
“And are you not sorry for granny?”
Here Alexis notices in the half-open door the frightened face of his grandmother, and his mother with a deadly pallor on her countenance. They both watch him from that distance, afraid to come nearer; they bless him and themselves with the sign of the cross.
“Yes, I am sorry for granny,” murmurs Alexis, and at the same time he wonders why his mother is not mentioned.