She nods and gives me another of them sketchy, happy smiles.
"And how about the—the——" I starts to ask.
She glances towards the corner where the nurse is bendin' over a pink and white basket. "He's splendid," she whispers.
"He?" says I. "Then—then it's a boy?"
She gives my hand a little squeeze.
And ten minutes later, when I'm shooed out, I'm feelin' so chesty and happy that I'm tingly all over.
Down in the livin'-room Leon is waitin' for me, wearin' a broad grin. He greets me with his hand out. And then, somehow, because he's so different, I expect, I remembers Barnes. I was wonderin' if Leon was just puttin' on.
"Well," says I, "how about it?"
"Ah, Monsieur!" says he, givin' me the hearty grip. "I make to you my best congratulations."
"Then you don't feel," says I, "that bein' a parent is kind of a sad and solemn business?"