“Angry? How absurd! What in the world could cause you to think I could be angry with a harmless little chap like you?”
“I don't know; but I did. I was sure at first that you liked me. You know the day I almost went to sleep in your lap, when the pretty lady and the old gentleman were at the tea-table? Well, I did think you liked me then, at first, you know, but when the doctor came and said it was late for children to be out, you put me down quick, and got red in the face, and never looked at me again.”
There was a rustic bench near by, and Galt sat down on it. He found himself unable to formulate a satisfactory reply, and he was going to let the remark pass unnoticed, but Lionel came forward now more confidently, and sat on the end of the bench. A thrill akin to that which he had felt when he discovered the identity of the child passed over Galt. There was an indescribable something in the boy's great eyes so like his mother's, in the artistic slenderness of his hands, in his exquisite profile, that dug deep into the soul of the man who sat there self-convicted of the crime of wilful desertion.
“Yes, I'm sure something was wrong that day,” Lionel said, tentatively. “I can always 'tell when mamma is angry at me, and I knew you were, for you didn't say good-bye. The others didn't, either, but I didn't care for them. I like Doctor Wynn, and I like you, but that is all, except Granny and my mother.”
“You like me, and why?” Galt questioned, almost under his breath.
“Oh, I don't know, but I do. I did when I first saw you looking up at me in that tree, and then when you held me in your lap. I wanted to go to sleep there, it felt so good—your arms are so fine and strong. Doctor Wynn says your father was a great soldier, and that you have his sword and a picture of him. Oh, I should love to see them! I'd like to be a soldier. Some day, if I am a good boy, will you let me see the sword?”
“Why, yes, you may come—now, if you wish.”
“You are joking, aren't you?” Lionel asked, in surprise.
“No, I'm in earnest. Come on!”
“Really, do you mean it?”