So don't be silly." By this time they had reached their rooms.

Barker, apparently dismissing the subject from his mind with characteristic buoyancy, turned into the bedroom and walked smilingly towards a small crib which stood in the corner.

"Why, he's gone!" he said in some dismay.
"Well," said Mrs.Barker a little impatiently, "you didn't expect me to take him into the public parlor, where I was seeing visitors, did you?
I sent him out with the nurse into the lower hall to play with the other children." A shade momentarily passed over Barker's face.

He always looked forward to meeting the child when he came back.

He had a belief, based on no grounds whatever, that the little creature understood him.