"Are you a Bolshevik, Mary?"
"No. I believe in the divine rights of kings and—Judges. I'd hate to see you carry a basket. It would rob you of something—just as I would hate to see a king without his crown or a queen without her scepter."
"Oh, Mary, Mary, your father has never said things like that to me."
"He doesn't feel them. Father believes in The God of Things as They are——"
"And don't you?"
"I believe in you," she rose and carrying her sleeping child, crossed the stream on the stones as easily as if she carried no burden; "you know I believe in you, don't you—and in all the Bannisters?"
It was said so lightly that he took it lightly. No one was so touchy as the Judge about his dignity if
it were disregarded. But here was little Mary smiling up at him and telling him that he was a king with a crown and she liked it.
"Well, well. Let's sit down, Mary."
"Fish, if you want to, and I'll watch."