"Excuse another question. Do you know anything of your little one's looks?"
"I have heard nothing; but if she at all resembles her mother, she must be very pretty."
"And you have never even asked! O Horace!"
"I'm afraid you think me very heartless," he said, coloring. "But you must make some allowance for my being a man. Women, I think, feel more interest in such things than we of the sterner sex do."
"Then I think my husband must be an exceptional man, for he loves his children very dearly, and takes great pride in their beauty and intelligence."
"I daresay; it might have been the same with me under happier circumstances," he answered in a bitter tone.
Little feet came pitpatting through the hall, little voices were asking for mother.
Mr. Dinsmore opened the door and admitted the inseparable three.
"Mother, I'm cold," said Fan shivering, and her teeth chattering as she spoke.
"Cold, darling? Come here."