“Is that true, Gran’pap?”
“That is true.”
The words might have come from lips of marble, they were so precise and passionless.
“Father,” exclaimed Charlie, “be just to me! Say that it was the first and last lie I ever told you. Say that afterward I acknowledged my fault, and asked your forgiveness, and you would not listen to me.”
“That is true.”
Cold as ice, clear as crystal, the answer to his son’s appeal came from the old man’s lips. For a moment there was silence, and then Dannie spoke again to his father.
“And you want me to come—to come an’ live with you?”
There was a tremor of joy in the boy’s voice at the very thought of such happiness as this.
“I do. I want you. I need you. I cannot live my life as I should without you.”