Kathryn Blair said:
"I want to get these feathers off first. They stick terribly…. Every time I think I've got hold of one, I find it's a hair." She shifted, so that her back was toward Tom Blake. "Help me, Tom," she commanded.
Obediently he rose to his knees. Resting his left hand upon her shoulder, he plucked, with clumsy masculine fingers at the bits of white that nestled in her hair…. She gave a little cry.
"Ouch! That hurts, Tom! I guess I'd better wait until I get home and have Harris do it. Harris isn't pretty, but she's awfully good; and she doesn't fuss a bit" … She turned around, suddenly, violet eyes wide with excitement. "Oh! I forgot to tell you!" she cried. "Doctor DeLancey said that maybe he'd bring me a baby brother today!"
Tom Blake and Jack Schuyler both turned to her.
"He did!" they cried almost together.
She nodded, profoundly.
"Yes," she said. "That's why they sent me over here to get all mussed up with feathers. You know baby brothers are bashful. Dr. DeLancey told me all about it. They like to be all alone in the house with their mothers, so that they can get acquainted."
Jack Schuyler rose up on his elbows.
"I know a boy," he said, "that was promised a baby brother and all he got was a sister…. I don't think that was square, do you?"