ooking out at the yard,
bathed in light and sparkling with dew, an ambulance appeared in the
avenue. It stopped in front of the porch; two officers descended from it
and assisted a third one down the steps, then they supported him to the
door.

"It's papa," cried Roberta; "he is like me, he couldn't wait."

She ran to meet him, beaming with joy, and led him to the sitting-room,
opened the door for him, and, with strange tact in a child so young, left
father and mother alone together. Robert Marsden was once more in the
quaint old room where he first courted his wife. He was ready to do the
courting all over again, glad of the opportunity and thankful for the
familiar associations that would naturally appeal to both. The room was
very little changed. The wear is less in the country, and then Dame
Fashion, our capricious queen, is not so absolute there. When he last saw
it, 'twas in the early morning. He remembered so well what took him there.
The night before they had one of their heated discussions about selling
the negroes, selling the old place, and moving north. When his wife turned
to leave the room there was something in her figure and bearing that
stirred him strangely. Before he retired, feeling that he had a strong
additional claim upon her, as one would reasonably have, upon whom rested
the responsibility of providing for a family, he wrote to her, and of
course in his masterful way urged her to accede to his request. "Sleep on
it," he wrote, "and let me know before I leave in the morning" (he was
going north on business). "Send your reply to the sitting-room, only a
line, telling me I am free to make my business arrangements in New York,
and return for you."

As he recalled the way in which he expressed himself, a qualm of shame
crossed his heart. "A selfish brute!" he groaned in spirit: "never
occurring to _him_ to yield, always trying to bend _her_." Well, there was
nothing for him that morning, and he had gone off with a hot heart,
feeling that any thing was better than the life of disinclination he was
forced to lead, if he remained. Yes, the room was as little changed as
she, there, coming toward him with outstretched hands.

Although her eyes fell beneath his searching glances, and hot blushes
suffused her cheeks, she, the mother of his child and many years gone his
wife, he did not move one step to meet her advances. O, her pitiable
confusion!

"Our child," he said, "the beautiful little daughter y