“Ther’s something movin’.”
But Rosebud could hear nothing. Still she was content to accept his assurance.
“It’s wheels,” he said after a few moments.
“Is it Joe Smith’s outfit?”
“Yup.”
They both listened. The girl could now hear the faintest possible rattle of wheels. Suddenly she turned upon him. Her breath was coming quickly. She was smiling, and her eyes were soft under cover of the dim starlight. 302
“Seth, I want you to let me do something. In the old days you used to be my dear old ’daddy.’ You used to scold me when I did wrong. You used to get angry with me, and I used to get more angry with you. Since I’ve grown up, of course, things have changed, haven’t they?”
“Yes.” The man looked into her face wonderingly.
“Well, daddy dear,” the girl laughed nervously. “Maybe when the trouble begins I shan’t see much of you. You’ll be busy, and so will I. It’s peace now, and I just want you to fall back into the old way. I want you for my ‘daddy’—my dear, dear old ‘daddy’—just for these few minutes. I want to be the silly scatterbrain I used to be.”
“I ain’t a heap at guessin’, Rosie,” Seth said doubtfully, but smiling tenderly at the upturned face.