“Dear Peggy,” interrupted Lafe softly, his voice quick 148 with tears, “dear, precious Peggy!” Then as he bent over Jinnie and Jinnie bent nearer him, Lafe placed his lips to her ear and whispered something.
She struggled to her feet, strange and unknown emotions rising in her eyes.
“Lafe!” she cried. “Lafe dear!”
“Yes,” nodded the cobbler. “Yes, if you want to know the truth, the good God’s goin’ to send me an’ Peg another little Jew baby.”
Jinnie sat down in her chair quite dazed. Lafe’s secret was much greater than she had expected! Much!
“Tell me about it,” she pleaded.
Keen anxiety erased the cobbler’s smiling expression.
“Poor Peggy!” he groaned again. “She can’t see where the bread’s comin’ from to feed another mouth, but as I says, ‘Peggy, you said the same thing when Jinnie came, an’ the blind child, an’ this little one’s straight from God’s own tender breast.’”
“That’s so, Lafe,” accorded Jinnie, “and, Oh, dearie, I’ll work so hard, so awful hard to get in more wood, and tell me, tell me when, Lafe; when is he coming to us, the Jew baby?”
Lafe smiled at her eagerness.