The man rose and stood in silence seeing again the last beautiful day of their life together and forgot the swift moments. He stood as in a trance from which he was suddenly awakened by the child's voice calling him excitedly from another walkway into which he had wandered:
"Dad-ee!" he called again.
"Yes, baby," he answered.
"Oh, come quick! Dad-ee—here's C-l-e-o!"
Norton turned and with angry steps measured the distance between them.
He came upon them suddenly behind a boxwood hedge. The girl was kneeling with the child's arms around her neck, clinging to her with all the yearning of his hungry little heart, and she was muttering half articulate words of love and tenderness. She held him from her a moment, looked into his eyes and cried:
"And you missed me, darling?"
"Oh—C-l-e-o!" he cried, "I thought 'oo'd nev-er tum!"
The angry words died in the man's lips as he watched the scene in silence.
He stooped and drew the child away: