Mary that the happiest moment in my day is when I give an apple or an
orange to your boy, for the look on that child's face is the nearest we
ever get to heaven on this earth."

"O, beautiful! beautiful! Mr. Lockwin."

"Yes, indeed, Esther. I took that little fellow three years ago. I
had no idea he would grow so pretty. Folks said it was the oddest of
pranks, but if I had bought fifteen more horses than I could use, or
dogs enough to craze the neighborhood, or even a parrot, like my good
neigbor Tarbelle, everybody would have been satisfied. Of course, I
had to take a house and keep a number of people for whom a bachelor has
no great need. But, Esther, when I go home there is framed in my
window the most welcome picture human eye has ever seen--that little
face, Esther!"

The man is enwrapped. The woman joins in the man's exaltation.

"He is the most beautiful child I have ever seen anywhere. It is the
talk of everybody. You are so proud of him when you ride together!"

"Esther, I have seen him in the morning when he came to rouse me--his
face as white as his gown; his golden hair long, and so fleecy that it
would stand all about his head; his mouth arched like the Indian's bow;
his great blue eyes bordered with dark brows and lashed with jet-black
hairs a half-inch long. That picture, Esther, I fear no painter can
get. I marvel why I do not make the attempt."

"He is as bright as he is beautiful," she says.