He was profoundly moved, sensible that his feelings were the more tender because, before the war, he would have accepted paternity and all it implied as an ordinary happening. Till he had suffered himself—his wound had caused him intense pain—he had never thought of what women endure every time a child is born into the world.
"What a brave dear you are!"
She whispered again:
"Would you like a He or a She?"
Alfred insisted that first choice lay with her.
"I want a boy."
"I believe I should love a lil' maid best."
"Better than you love me, maybe?"
Having answered this in his own way, Alfred said abruptly:
"If 'tis a maid, you must call her Lizzie. 'Twill please Mother. I can see the child traipsin' after her."