“I come to you, a good bit as I would go to God, if he were a person,” she said. “I have got to know something, and you can tell me.”
He put his arm around her and held her close.
“Go ahead, honey.”
“Daddy, do you realize that I am a woman now?”
“I try to. But it seems about six months since I was feeding you hot water for colic.”
She sat still for a moment, stroking his hair and being very careful not to spoil his neat parting.
“You have never told me all about Dick, daddy. You have always kept something back. That's true, isn't it?”
“There were details,” he said uncomfortably. “It wasn't necessary—”
“Here's what I want to know. If he has gone back to the time—you know, wouldn't he go back to caring for the people he loved then?” Then, suddenly, her childish appeal ceased, and she slid from the chair and stood before him. “I must know, father. I can bear it. The thing you have been keeping from me was another woman, wasn't it?”
“It was so long ago,” he temporized. “Think of it, Elizabeth. A boy of twenty-one or so.”