"Not for some time. You see, she went under a name different from her real one. She saw her husband's father and mother, and became well acquainted with them. But she did not tell them who she was, as she wanted them to love her too. Then, there was something else which kept her from telling people who she really was. She made her living——" Here she paused, as if uncertain how to proceed.
"How?" Rod enquired.
"By going on the stage."
"Oh, she was an actress, then," the boy exclaimed. "I have read about such people."
"No, not exactly that. But she sang on the stage."
"Oh!"
"What's the matter, dear?" the woman enquired.
"Nothing much. Only something funny came into my mind. That's all."
"Yes, she sang in public," the story-teller continued, "and she had made an agreement to sing for three years. She was afraid that if people knew that she was going under a wrong name it might make trouble. Anyway, she was sure it would make a whole lot of talk, and she didn't want that to happen for awhile. It was one night after she was through singing that she met her little boy. He came with another boy to see her, and asked her to go and sing for a sick girl at Hillcrest."
With a startled cry of joy, Rod sat up suddenly in bed. His eyes fairly blazed with excitement, and his body trembled.