They walked to Bruce's and sat for an hour in the living room. Mamie was too sick to see them, but Bruce opened the door into her room so that she could hear their voices. Bruce was bubbling over with happiness. When he finally brought out the baby, a sickly little thing, he was laughing out loud. Jess took it in her arms.
“My, ain't it light,” she said.
“Six pounds,” said Bruce.
“What's her name going to be?”
“Dunno yet. Marne wants to name it after her mother.”
“John,” said Jess, “take her just a minute. She's such a funny little thing.” Hunch moved away and shook his head. This made Bruce and Jess laugh. For the rest of the evening Hunch was thoughtful. His manner subdued Jess, and they walked home with little to say.
The following night, as Hunch was coming away from Bartlett's, he met Jess's brother on the street.
“Hello, Hunch,” said Jim. “Say, if you want to see a circus, you ought to go down to Herve's place.”
“Why, what's up?”
“Bruce Considine's celebrating.”