“I've got t' have that there garden,” he said, laughingly. “Got t' get them roses. An' I'll have a big bath-house,—plenty of springs in this country. You ken have a bath here that won't freeze summer NOR winter. An' a baby! I've got t' have a baby. He'll go with th' roses an' th' bath.” He laughed again heartily.
“It's a queer joke, isn't it?” Roeder asked. “Talkin' about my baby, an' I haven't even a wife.” His face flushed and he turned his eyes away.
“Have I shown you the pictures of my babies?” Kate inquired. “You'd like my boy, I know. And my girl is just like me,—in miniature.”
There was a silence. She looked up after a moment. Roeder appeared to be examining the monogram on his ring as if he had never seen it before.
“I didn't understand that you were married,” he said gently.
“Didn't you? I don't think you ever called me by any name at all, or I should have noticed your mistake and set you right. Yes, I'm married. I came out here to get strong for the babies.”
“Got a boy an' a girl, eh?”
“Yes.”
“How old's th' boy?”
“Five.”