he would be half so presentable a boy. Just the living
image of Lorimer; isn't he?"

"You see it, too?"

Bobby was at a loss to interpret the sudden incisive note in her voice.
No one had warned him that the baby's likeness to his father had been a
forbidden subject, and he could not know that Beatrix, in brooding over
the matter, had reached a point where she questioned whether the
resemblance might not exist solely in her own imagination. Bobby's next
words annulled that hope and confirmed her fears.

"He's as like him as two peas, cunning as he can be. There, boy, look at
your Uncle Bobby!" Bobby bent forward and with his forefinger gently
tilted the little face upward. "Lorimer's eyes to perfection," he
observed. Then, as he met Beatrix's eyes, he suddenly understood their
wild appeal. Dropping the baby's chin, he laid his hand on his cousin's
shoulder. "I wouldn't worry about that, Beatrix," he added reassuringly.
"He probably will take it out in looking, and, for his character, hark
back to some remote Dane or other. Lorimer was a handsome fellow, and
the baby might do worse than look like him. Otherwise, he may go off on
a tangent. Suppose he should take after me, for instance!"

Bobby spoke cheerily, hoping that Beatrix's laugh would follow his
words. Instead, she caught his hand with her disengaged one and pressed
it fiercely to her cheek.

"Oh, Bobby, I wish he would!" she cried.

Bobby looked rather abashed. He and Beatrix had been intimate from their
babyhood; yet neither one of them was prone to self-betrayal, and this
was the most demonstrative scene which had ever taken place between the
cousins. As a rule, they were too sure of each other to feel the need
for expressions of affection. For a minute, Bobby patted Beatrix's cheek
with clumsy gentleness. Then he returned to the baby.

"Come here, old man! Come to your Uncle Bobby!" he urged, holding out
his hands invitingly. "Come along here." And before Beatrix could utter
a word of protesting caution, the baby was lying in the hollow of
Bobby's elbow and blinking up at his new nurse with round brown eyes.

Bobby stared down at him benignly.

"Feels cunning; doesn't he, Beatrix? He seems to fit into one's grip
rather well. One can't help liking the little beggar. By the way,
what's his name?"

"Sidney," Beatrix responded quietly.

"The deuce!" In his surprise, Bobby almost dropped the baby.

Beatrix answered his unspoken thought.

"Yes, I ha