.

It was some time before either spoke. In Tessibel's heart swelled an
affection such as she held for no other person. In Young's, in spite of
his self-communion on the way, surged the insistent call of the man for
his mate, a hopeless longing which might never be satisfied.

"I'm glad it's over, child," he said softly. "My sister told me--"

"I got my baby!" she broke in. "He air over there. Take a peep at 'im."

There was no embarrassment in the bright smile she sent him, no sense of
shame in showing her friend the dear little being who had come to her
out of the Infinite to be worked for and loved. Young smothered a groan
but he turned obediently and went to the chair in which the baby was
cradled.

Folding back the blanket, he gazed at the sleeping infant. Manlike, he
was experiencing the passionate wish that this small boy were his own.
Jealousy, sudden and violent, assailed him. Hardly could he restrain the
words of interrogation and denunciation that demanded utterance.

The mother's question brought him back to the cot.

"He air beautiful, ain't he?" she breathed, a misty gleam on her lashes.

"Yes," said Young, and he sat down in Daddy Skinner's big rocker.

"Wouldn't ye like to hold him?" Tess hoped he would.

"Not yet," replied the lawyer. "I want to know more about him. You must
tell me now whose son he is, and let me help you decide what to do about
it.... Won't you trust me a little, Tess, dear?"

He hitched his chair nearer the cot and looked earnestly into the dear,
brown eyes she turned fearlessly and unashamed up to his own.

"He air mine," Tessibel told him, and a tender smile played about her
lips, "but I can't tell ye any more.... There ain't nothin' to do about
it. It air all right--huh?"

"Oh, my dear," sighed the man. "I hoped you'd relieve my mind a little.
But--but I'll not speak about it again till you come of your own accord
and tell me.... I've been thinking about something else, though--"

"Air it about Andy?" interrupted Tessibel.

Young looked up and discovered a boyish face smiling down upon him from
the attic.

"Come down," he said to the dwarf.

Andy descended the ladder and trudged across the floor.

The lawyer stood up and extended his hand. "How are you, Andy?" he
enquired pleasantly. "Pretty well, I hope?"

Andy shook hands gravely.

"Yep, thank ye, professor, I air that," he assented. "Hope ye're the
same."

"Andy's been more'n good to me," Tess confided.