less, I clung to Timothy, though I wished fervently
that I knew more about him; for I still met that
other father occasionally, and he always stopped to
compare notes about the boys. And the questions
he asked were so intimate, how Timothy slept,
how he woke up, how he fell off again, what we
put in his bath. It is well that dogs and little
boys have so much in common, for it was really
of Porthos I told him; how he slept (peacefully),
how he woke up, (supposed to be subject to dreams),
how he fell off again (with one little hand on his
nose), but I glided past what we put in his bath
(carbolic and a mop).

The man had not the least suspicion of me, and
I thought it reasonable to hope that Mary would
prove as generous. Yet was I straitened in my
mind. For it might be that she was only biding
her time to strike suddenly, and this attached me
the more to Timothy, as if I feared she might
soon snatch him from me. As was indeed to be
the case.

-56-