"I intend to love you both very dearly," shyly returned the girl, and, noting the light in Lorelei's face, Bob Wharton was satisfied.
Restraint vanished swiftly under the old couple's evident determination to make amends, but after they had gone Lorelei became so pensive that Bob said, anxiously, "I hope you weren't polite to them merely for my sake."
Lorelei shook her head "No. I was only thinking—Do you realize that none of my own people have been to see me? That I haven't had a single word from any of them?"
Bob stirred uncomfortably; he started to speak, then checked himself as she went on, not without some effort: "I'm going to say something unpleasant, but I think you ought to know it. When they learn that your parents have taken me in and made up with us they're going to ask me for money. It's a terrible thing to say, but it's true."
"Do you want to see them? Do you want them to see the baby?"
"N—no!" Lorelei was pale as she made answer. "Not after all that has passed."
Bob heaved a grateful sigh. "I'm glad. They won't trouble you any more."
"Why? What—"
"I've been waiting until you were strong to tell you. I've noticed how their silence hurt you, but—it's my fault that they haven't been here. I sent them away."
"YOU sent them away?"