He put his arms around her and held her; he bent down and kissed her, and her small hand went up to his beard in exactly the way that it used to do.

She nestled up against him.
"It's a very long time, isn't it," he said, "since I paid you a visit!" "Yes, a long, long time." "That's because you didn't want me.

You got on so well without me." "I didn't forget about you," she said.

"But I asked mummy about you once, and she said you were all nonsense, and I wasn't to think things like that." "Ah! your mother's forgotten altogether.

She knew me once, but she hasn't wanted me for a very, very long time.