whooping-cough, and all his childish ailments; and in fact I was a
pretty regular visitor at the house from the time of his birth until
his father left the neighbourhood, as I shall presently have to relate.
I believe Mrs. Fink to have been not merely a profligate woman, but a
thoroughly bad and heartless one in every respect. She was perfectly
indifferent to her husband, whom she shamefully neglected, and almost
indifferent to her child. She seemed to care for nothing in the world
but dress and strong waters; and to procure these there was no depth of
degradation to which she would not stoop.

As a result of my constant professional attendance upon his mother
during the first month of little Charlie's life, I became better
acquainted with his father than anyone in Peoria had ever done. He
seemed to know that I saw into and sympathized with his domestic
troubles, and my silent sympathy seemed to afford him some consolation.
As the months and years passed by, his wife's conduct became worse and
worse, and his affections centered themselves entirely upon his child,
whom he loved with a passionate affection to which I have never seen a
parallel.

And Charlie was a child made to be loved. When he was two years old he
was beyond all comparison the dearest and most beautiful little fellow
I have ever seen. His fat, plump, chubby little figure, modelled after
Cupid's own; his curly flaxen hair; his matchless complexion, fair and
clear as the sky on a sunny summer day; and his bright, round,
expressive eyes, which imparted intelligence to his every feature,
combined to make him the idol of his father, the envy of all the
mothers in town, and the admiration of every one who saw him. At noon,
when the great foundry-bell rang, which was the signal for the workmen
to go to dinner Charlie might regularly be seen, toddling as fast as