The suspense of the last fifteen minutes had been a distressing wrong
to put upon any man. He had now before him the prospect of caring for a
strange child, of taking her out of town at an hour when he should have
been coming into it. She would probably cry. Very well; if she did he
determined on the instant to ride out to Bel-Air in the smoking car,
although he detested its odors and uncleanness. The whole situation was
enormous. What a fool he had been, and what an intelligent woman was
Mrs. Forbes! She had seen from the first the inappropriateness, the
impossibility, of the whole proposition. His attention was attracted to
the fact that the small figure at his side was hopping up and down with
excitement.

"There's father, there's father!" she cried, as Harry joined his wife
at the rail and they lifted the wealth of roses from the box and waved
them.

"We've wronged him, Harry!" exclaimed Julia, trying to see the little
face below through her misty eyes. "How I love him for bringing me these
sweet things! It gives me such a different feeling about him."

"Oh, father would as soon forget his breakfast as roses for a woman he
was seeing off," returned Harry without enthusiasm, while he waved his
hat energetically.

The steamer pulled out. The faces in the crowd mingled and changed
places.

"I've lost them, I've lost them!" cried Julia. "Oh, where are they,
Harry."