An unsuspected astuteness in the character of Thomas Singleton Bingle
reveals itself in the declaration, now to be made for the first time
in this present history of the man: he never allowed his wards to look
upon themselves as his own children. They were taught to call him
daddy and to look upon him as a substitute supplied by God to take the
place of a real father, and by the same token Mrs. Bingle became
mother to the brood, but they were safe-guarded against the surprise
and shock of future revelations--revelations that so frequently spoil
the lives of those who have lived in happy ignorance. Mr. Bingle,
gentle soul that he was, had the heart to look ahead in this pleasant
game of his. He saw the cruelty of a too loving deception. He foresaw
the desolating results of a too great faith in chance. So his children
were taught to regard him in the light of a protector who was
satisfied to have them feel that he was under obligations to them
instead of the other way round. It was his joy to be called daddy, and
in return for this simple tribute he lavished upon them all the love
and tenderness of a true father and a great deal of the consideration
that a child deserves, but seldom gets, from its own pre-occupied and
self-satisfied parent.

Kathleen knew that she was not the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bingle.
She had always known that she was the daughter of a Mr. and Mrs.
Hinman, both deceased. In the case of Reginald--and, in a way, Harold
also--there was some uncertainty. As the former advanced in years and
characteristics, it became more and more apparent to Mr. Bingle that
his fifth-born was not of Italian descent, despite the fact that the
authorities at the Foundlings' Home had him down on the records as the
offspring of a Mr. and Mrs. Vanesi, lost in one of the factory fires
in the city of Brooklyn. Mr. Bingle was convinced, as time went on,
that the tags on certain infants had been accidentally misplaced by