“Do you mean that, Mrs. Murphy?” I asked, every bit of blood in me goin' on the jump.

“Mean it?” she says; “I've had six of my own, and not one of them could hold a candle to this one.”

“Marthy!” I says. “Is it so?”

“Mrs. Murphy has fine children,” she says; “but my little girl, I think, is finer.”


“How's her head?” I asked. “Perfect,” she says.

“And her color?”

“So healthy,” she says.