"Oh, Mother, you are a Spartan! I am not so brave, I am afraid," said Molly. "Even now at the thought of war, I am thanking G.o.d my Mildred baby is a girl."

Little Mildred, at mention of her name, although it would be many a day before she would know what her name was, awakened and gave an inarticulate gurgle. Mrs. Brown dropped the role of Spartan Mother and turned into a doting grandmother in the twinkling of an eye.

"And was um little tootsie wootsies cold? Come to your Granny and let her warm them. Molly, this baby has grown a foot, I do believe, and look what a fine, strong, straight back she has! And does oo want your Granny to rub your back? Only look, her eyes have brown lights in them! I said all the time she would have brown eyes."

"And not Molly's blue eyes! Oh, Mother, that is very bad news to me.

Why, the baby's eyes are as blue as the sea now. They could not change,"

and Edwin Green peered into his offspring's face with such intentness that the little thing began to whimper.

The proper indignation being expressed by the females and the baby dangled until smiles came and a crow, Mrs. Brown informed the ignorant father that all young animals have blue eyes and there is no determining the actual colour of a baby's eyes until it is several months old, but that the minute brown or golden lights begin to appear in blue eyes, you can get ready to declare for a brown-eyed youngster.

"Well, she will surely have Molly's hair," he insisted.

"That we can't tell, either," said the all-knowing grandmother. "You see, she is almost bald now except for this tiny fringe that is rapidly being worn off in the back. That does seem a little pinkish."

"Pinkish! Oh, Mother-in-law, what a word to express my Molly's hair!"

"Can't you see she is getting even with you for making Mildred almost cry?" laughed Molly. "I know she is going to have my hair because when you slip a little bit of blue under that little lock that is on the side, where it hasn't rubbed off, the 'pink' comes out quite plainly. My Mildred will be a belle. I have always heard it said that a girl with brown eyes and golden hair is born to be a belle. Oh, yes, I will call the baby's hair golden although I have always called my own red."

"I don't know whether I want her to be a belle or not," objected Edwin.

"She might be frivolous."

"Frivolous with your eyes! Heavens, Daddy, she couldn't be!"

Mrs. Brown contentedly smiled and rocked the baby, who crowed and cooed and kicked her pretty pink tootsies. The sun shone on the orchard home and a particularly obliging mocking bird burst into song from one of the gnarled old apple trees, heavy with its luscious fruit. Mocking birds are supposed not to sing in August, but sometimes they do, and when they do, their song is as wonderful and welcome as an unlooked-for legacy.

Molly looked over the fields of waving blue gra.s.s to the dark beech woods that bordered the pasture, a feeling of great happiness and contentment in her heart. How peaceful and sweet was life! She leaned against her husband, who put an ever-ready arm around her, and together they gazed on the fruitful landscape. Mrs. Brown crooned to the baby a song ever dear to her own children and one that had been sung to her by her own negro mammy.

"Mammy went away--she tol' me ter stay, An' tek good keer er de baby, She tol' me ter stay an' sing dis away: Oh, go ter sleepy, little baby!

Oh, go ter sleep! sleepy little baby, Oh, go ter sleepy, little baby, Kaze when yer wake, yo'll git some cake, An' ride a little white horsey!

We'll stop up de cracks an' sew up de seams-- De Booger Man never shall ketch you!

Oh, go ter sleep an' dream sweet dreams-- De Booger Man never shall ketch you!

Oh, go ter sleep! sleepy little baby, Oh, go ter sleepy, little baby, Kaze when you wake, you'll git some cake, An' lots er nice sugar candy!"

How could whole countries be at war and such peace reign in any spot on the globe?

The whirr of an approaching motor awoke them from their musings and stopped the delightful song before one-third of the stanzas had been sung. It was Kent with John in the doctor's little runabout.

"My boy! my boy!" and Mrs. Brown dropped the baby in her basket and flew across the gra.s.s to greet the long-absent Kent.

"I couldn't wait for Paul but had to get old Dr. John to bring me out.

Mumsy, how plump and pink you are. I declare you look almost as young as the new baby," said Kent after the first raptures of greeting were over.

"And Molly, you look great! And 'Fessor Green, I declare you are getting fat. I bet you have gained at least three-quarters of a pound since you got married. Positively obese!"

"You haven't said much about the baby," objected Molly.

"Well, there's not much to say, is there? She is an omnivorous biped, I gather, from the two feet I can see and her evident endeavor to eat them, at least, I fancy that is why she is kicking so high. She has got Edwin's er--er--well--his high forehead----"

"She is not nearly so bald-headed as you were yourself," declared his mother. "You were such a lovely baby, Kent, the loveliest of all my babies, I believe. I always adored a bald-headed baby and you had a head like a little billiard ball."

They all laughed at this and Kent confessed that if he had been bald-headed himself, he believed the little Mildred must be, after all, very charming.

"Any letters for me?" he asked, and Molly thought she detected a note of anxiety below all the nonsense he had been talking.

"No, I have not seen any."

"Well, have you heard from--from Judy Kean?"

"Yes," confessed Molly. "I got a letter to-day."

"Please may I see it?"

"Yes, of course you may."

But Molly felt a great reluctance to show Julia Kean's letter to her brother. She knew very well he was uneasy already about their friend and was certain this letter would only heighten his concern. Kent was looking brown and st.u.r.dy; he seemed to her to have grown even taller than the six feet one he already measured when he went abroad. His boyish countenance had taken on more purpose and his jaw had an added squareness. His deep set grey eyes had a slight cloud in them that Molly and her mother hated to see.

"It is Judy, of course," they said to themselves.

"I landed my job in New York," he said, as he opened the little blue envelope.

"Splendid!" exclaimed Molly.

Mrs. Brown tried to say splendid, too, but the thought came to her: "Another one going away from home!" and she could only put her arm around her boy's neck and press a kiss on his brown head.

They were all very quiet while Kent read the letter. Dr. John, alone, seemed disinterested. He very professionally poked the infant in the ribs to see how fat she had grown and, also, much to the indignation of Molly, went through some tests for idiocy, which, of course, the tiny baby could not pa.s.s.

CHAPTER III.

KENT BROWN.

"Mother, will you come and take a little walk with me?" asked Kent as he finished Judy's letter. With his hand trembling, although his eyes were very steady and his mouth very firm, he tucked the many thin blue sheets back in their envelope.

"Yes, my son!" Mrs. Brown held her head very high and in her expression one could very well read: "I told you so! Did I not know the 'mettle of his pasture'?"

"Mother," he said, as he drew her arm in his and they took their way through the orchard to the garden of Chatsworth, "I must go get Judy!"

"Yes, my son, of course you must."

"Oh, Mother, you think it is the only thing to do?"

"Of course, I know it is the only thing to do. I told Molly and Edwin only a few minutes ago that you would want to do it."