"Benvenuto Cellini Carville," he pronounced carefully, and added as an afterthought, "I'm Ben; he's Beppo."
"Fancy giving a child a name like that!" muttered Bill, compassionately. "I call it a shame!" And she leaned over towards the two children. "Do you know my name then?" she asked.
The clear, steady eyes rested for a moment upon her face, and a slight smile curved the lips of the elder as he answered.
"Ma calls you the woman with two husbands," he remarked.
"Oh!" said Bill, and fell back into the hammock.
"Say, Kiddo," said Mac, reaching out a long arm and capturing them, "what do they teach you down in that old school anyway, eh?"
They squirmed.
"It is useless to try and force anything out of them," I warned. "Remember the school-teacher is forbidden by law even to touch them." They slipped away from his knee, and stood as before.
"Listen," I continued. "Got a father, Beppo?"
He surveyed me with some slight astonishment.