* * * * *
When he returned he found Kitty sitting with her hands in her lap, lost
apparently in thought.
"Darling," he said, looking at his watch, "I must be off directly, but I
should like to see the boy."
Kitty started. She rang, and the child was brought down. He sat on
Kitty's knee, and Ashe coming to the sofa, threw an arm round them both.
"You are not a bad-looking pair," he said, kissing first Kitty and then
the baby. "But he's rather pale, Kitty. I think he wants the country."
Kitty said nothing, but she lifted the little white embroidered frock
and looked at the twisted foot. Then Ashe felt her shudder.
"Dear, don't be morbid!" he cried, resentfully. "He will have so much
brains that nobody will remember that. Think of Byron."
Kitty did not seem to have heard.
"I remember so well when I first saw his foot--after your mother told
me--and they brought him to me," she said, slowly. "It seemed to me it
was the end--"
"The end of what?"
"Of my dream."
"What
do you mean, Kitty!"
"Do you remember the mask in the 'Tempest'? First Iris, with saffron
wings, and rich Ceres, and great Juno--"
She half closed her eyes.
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