“C-c-come, Sukey.”
The pigeon understood him perfectly well, and, stepping out of her basket, she walked round and round in a state of great indignation. “Rookety cahoo! rookety cahoo!”
“Let her alone, boy,” said the Judge, “she won’t go out to-night, it is too cold. If we insist, she will stand outside and tap on the window until our nerves are upset. There, close the window. You have cooled the room. We will keep doing that, in order that we may not suffer from the heat.”
Titus concealed a smile as he looked out into the cold night. What a change had come over his grandfather. Who would have imagined last Christmas that this Christmas he would have a pet pigeon in his study?
“And now you had better go to bed, children,” said the Judge, as the big hall clock struck ten. “Have you had a nice Christmas, little girl?”
Bethany went and stood beside his armchair. “Sir, it is the best Christmas I ever had. I shall tell my mamma about it to-night.”
The Judge said nothing, but held out a hand to her.
She clasped his large fingers tightly in her tiny ones. “Good-night, sir—may I say the name?”
“O, yes—decidedly.”
“Daddy Grandpa,” she murmured, “good-night, Daddy Grandpa. Now Bethany is like other little girls. She isn’t all alone in the world, like a poor stray cat.”