"To be sure I do. I always liked babies; they are the perfection o' innocence."
Before he had finished his sentence, Oleah had climbed down from his knee, and was scampering away toward the nursery. Abner was not more than two seconds in following him.
"Wall, now, see heah," said the hunter; "while them young rattletraps is gone, jest tell me what all this means. Hez someone been increasin' yer family by leavin' babies a layin' around loose, or is it a big doll some one haz give the boys?"
"It's just as the boys say," Mr. Tompkins answered. "Some one did actually leave a baby about six months old on this porch, and no one knows who he was, where he came from, or where he went."
"That's mighty strange. How long ago was it?"
"About six weeks."
"Wall, now, ain't that strange? Have you any suspicion who done it?"
"Not the least."
"Wall, it is strange. Never saw no un sneakin' about the house, like?"
"No one at all."