He looked the picture of aggrieved innocence in black.
But Maggie persisted. She told him he could move into a little buildin’ standin’ on the grounds; and as he was fairly faithful and hard-workin’, Maggie thought he would get a good livin’ for his wife and son.
“And you will love your child,” sez Maggie, lookin’ down into Boy’s sleepin’ face.
Finally, after long arguments and persuasions on Maggie’s part, Dan promised to marry Rosy.
And to do him justice he did marry her in a week’s time, and they moved into a little thatched cabin at the bottom of the grounds.
Dan wuz good-natered, as I said, and a good coachman and gardener when he chose to work; and Maggie and I took solid happiness in fittin’ up the little rooms so they looked quite pleasant and homelike.
Rosy, as her little baby grew and thrived, manifested a degree of love for it that wuz surprisin’ when one took into consideration the utter barrenness and poverty of the soil in which the sweet plant of affection grew.
And it actually seemed as if the love she had for the child awakened a soul in her. Frivolous and empty-headed enough she wuz to be sure, but still there wuz an improvement in her datin’ from the hour when her baby first became a delight to her.
Dan too grew more settled in his behavior. His drinkin’ spells, which he had always had periodically, grew further and further apart, and with the dignity of a father and householder added to him, it seemed to add cubits to his moral stature.