Great
Heaven! if Clarissa had been his wife, this child his son, what a happy
man he might have been, what a new charm there would have been in the
possession of a fine estate, what a new zest in life, the savour of which
seemed to have departed altogether of late!
He put the little one back into his cushioned seat in the goat-chaise with
supreme care and gentleness, not ruffling so much as a plume in his dainty
white satin hat.
"A fine boy, Mrs. Nurse," he said, feeling in his waistcoat-pocket for
bacsheesh; to which proposition the portly head-nurse, who had stared
at him, aghast with horror, while had handled the infant, assented with
enthusiasm.
"I never nursed a finer, sir; and I was head-nurse to Lady Fitz-Lubin,
which my lady had five boys, and not a girl between them; and Mrs. Granger
does dote on him so. I never see a ma that rapt up in her child."
Mr. Fairfax gave her half-a-sovereign, stooped down to kiss the baby
again--it is doubtful if he had ever kissed a baby before--and then walked
on, wondering at the new sensation. Such a little soft thing, that opened
its mouth to be kissed, like a petted bird! And yet he could contemplate a
future in which he should come between Clarissa and this child; he could
dream of a possibility which should make its mother's name a shame to this
little one.
* * * * *
Mr. Granger kept his appointment with the architect, and came to the
natural conclusion of a rich roan upon the subject of dilapidated
buildings.
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