What more could a man ask? Only one thing more --a baby. The months soon passed and that rounding out of the home side of his life was consummated with no mishap. The baby was a girl, which contented him and delighted Dorothy. He wished it to be named after her, she preferred his sister's name--Ursula. It was Ursula who decided the question. "She looks like you, Fred," she declared, after an earnest scanning of the wierd little face. "Why not call her Frederica?"
Norman thought this clumsy, but Dorothy instantly assented--and the baby was duly christened Frederica.
Perhaps it was because he was having less pressing business in town, but whatever the reason, he began to stay at home more--surprisingly more. And, being at home, he naturally fell into the habit of fussing with the baby, he having the temperament that compels a man to be always at something, and the baby being convenient and in the nature of a curiosity. Ursula, who was stopping in the house, did not try to conceal her amazement at this extraordinary development of her brother's character.
Said she: "I never before knew you to take the slightest interest in a child."
Said he: "I never before saw a child worth taking the slightest interest in."
"Oh, well," said Ursula, "it won't last. You'll soon grow tired of your plaything."
"Perhaps you're right," said Norman. "I hope you're wrong." He reflected, added: "In fact, I'm almost certain you're wrong. I'm too selfish to let myself lose such a pleasure. If you had observed my life closely, you'd have discovered that I have never given up a single thing I found a source of pleasure. That is good sense. That is why the superior sort of men and women retain something of the boy and the girl all their lives. I still like a lot of the games I played as a boy.
For some years I've had no chance to indulge in them.
I'll be glad when Rica is old enough to give me the chance again."
She was much amused. "Who'd have suspected that YOU were a born father !"
"Not I, for one," confessed he. "We never know what there is in us until circumstances bring it out."
"A devoted father and a doting husband," pursued Ursula. "I must say I rather sympathize with you as a doting husband. Of course, I, a woman, can't see her as you do. I can't imagine a man--especially a man of your sort--going stark mad about a mere woman.
But, as women go, I'll admit she is a good specimen.
Not the marvel of intelligence and complex character you imagine, but still a good specimen. And physically--"
She laughed-- "THAT'S what caught you.
That's what holds you--and will hold you as long as it lasts."
"Was there ever a woman who didn't think that?--and didn't like to think it, though I believe many of them make strong pretense at scorning the physical." Fred was regarding his sister with a quizzical expression.
"You approve of her?" he said.
"More than I'd have thought possible. And after I've taken her about in the world a while she'll be perfect."
"No doubt," said Norman. "But, alas, she'll never be perfect. For, you're not going to take her about."
"So she says when I talk of it to her," replied Ursula. "But I know you'll insist. You needn't be uneasy as to how she'll be received."
"I'm not," said Norman dryly.
"You've got back all you lost--and more. How we Americans do worship success!"
"Don't suggest to Dorothy anything further about society," said Norman. "I've no time or taste for it, and I don't wish to be annoyed by intrusions into my home."
"But you'll not be satisfied always with just her," urged his sister. "Besides, you've got a position to maintain."
Norman's smile was cynically patient. "I want my home and I want my career," said he. "And I don't want any society nonsense. I had the good luck to marry a woman who knows and cares nothing about it.
I don't purpose to give up the greatest advantage of my marriage."
Ursula was astounded. She knew the meaning of his various tones and manners, and his way of rejecting her plans for Dorothy--and, incidentally, for her own amusement--convinced her that he was through and through in earnest. "It will be dreadfully lonesome for her, Fred," she pleaded.
"We'll wait till that trouble faces us," replied he, not a bit impressed. "And don't forget--not a word of temptation to her from you." This with an expression that warned her how well he knew her indirect ways of accomplishing what she could not gain directly.
