She was pointing at the scribble he was making on the paper.
"Tit-tat-to," he smiled, "to amuse the baby." Did she hate to see him so occupied, or was her own restlessness of a nature demanding a like outlet?
Tearing her eyes away from him and the child, she looked about her in a wild way, till she came upon a box of matches standing on the large center-table around which they were all grouped.

Taking some in her hand, she commenced to lay them out on the table before her, possibly in an attempt to attract the baby's attention to herself.

Puerile business, but it struck me forcibly, possibly from the effect it appeared to have upon the mayor.

Looking from one to the other in an astonishment which was not without its hint of some new and overmastering feeling on his own part, he remarked: "Isn't it time for the baby to go to bed?
Surely, our talk is too serious to be interrupted by games to please a child." Without a word Mr.Steele rose and put the protesting child in the mother's arms.

She, rising, carried it to the door, and, coming slowly back, reseated herself before the table and began to push the matches about again with fingers that trembled beyond her control.