“Daddy!”
“Yes, dear.” He had not yet noted the position of the two, although he had caught the joyous tones in her voice.
“Jack and I want to tell you something. You won't be cross, will you?”
“Cross, Puss!” He stopped and looked at her wonderingly. Had Jack comforted her? Was she no longer worried over the disaster?
Jack released his arm and would have stepped forward, but she held him back.
“No, Jack,—let me tell him. You said a while ago, daddy, that there were only two of us—just you and I—and that it had always been so and—”
“Well, isn't it true, little girl?” It's extraordinary how blind and stupid a reasonably intelligent father can be on some occasions, and this one was as blind as a cave-locked fish.
“Yes, it WAS true, daddy, when you went upstairs, but—but—it isn't true any more! There are three of us now!” She was trembling all over with uncontrollable joy, her voice quavering in her excitement.
Again Jack tried to speak, but she laid her hand on his lips with—
“No, please don't, Jack—not yet—you will spoil everything.”