While we were arguing the matter; however, Pauline appeared in the
hall, into which I advanced to meet her. She was changed, I thought,
and her face had wonderfully softened. I held out my arms to her, and
she came to me, nestling into my embrace as though she indeed belonged
to me. Then she rested her head upon my shoulder, and gave way to
tears. I was touched by this kindly greeting, and had begun to mentally
upbraid myself for my former conduct, and to promise amendment in the
future, when the cause of my wife's changed disposition was suddenly,
in a flash, revealed to me by a series of yells from a room upstairs,
accompanied by a low voice of pleading in remonstrance, and what
sounded like the, throwing about of some hard substance on the floor.
I looked into my wife's eyes, and read in them the secret of the great
happiness which had come to me.
"He is quarrelling with his nurse," she said, smiling up at me through
her tears. "He is such a masterful baby."
Next moment I was bounding up the stairs, and on entering the nursery I
saw my boy seated on the floor, his face red with passion, while with
his chubby little hands he was tearing the sails off a toy ship that
had been given him to play with.
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