"An' now I'm goin' to tell you, Jinnie." But he didn't tell her just then. Instead he sat looking at her with luminous eyes, and the expression in them--that heavenly expression--compelled Jinnie to kneel beside him, and for a little while they sat in silence. "Dear child," Lafe murmured, dropping a tender hand on her shining head, "dear, dear girl!" "It must be a joyful thing, Lafe, for your face shines as bright as Bobbie's stars." "I'm blessed happy to-day!" he sighed, with twitching lips. Jinnie took his hand in hers and smoothed it fondly. "What is it, Lafe, dear?" she asked. "Do you want to kneel while I tell you?" queried the cobbler. "Yes, right here." "Then look right at me, Jinnie lass!" Jinnie _was_ looking at him with her whole soul in her eyes. "I'm looking at you, Lafe," she said. "An' don't take your eyes from me; will you?" "Sure not!" It must be a great surprise for Lafe to act like this, thought the girl. "Lassie," commenced Lafe, "I want you to be awful good to Peggy.... It's about her I'm goin' to speak." Jinnie sank back on the tips of her toes. "What about Peg? There isn't----" "Dear Peggy," interrupted Lafe softly, his voice quick with tears, "dear, precious Peggy!" Then as he bent over Jinnie and Jinnie bent nearer him, Lafe placed his lips to her ear and whispered something. She struggled to her feet, strange and unknown emotions rising in her eyes. "Lafe!" she cried. "Lafe dear!" "Yes," nodded the cobbler. "Yes, if you want to know the truth, the good God's goin' to send me an' Peg another little Jew baby." Jinnie sat down in her chair quite dazed. Lafe's secret was much greater than she had expected! Much! "Tell me about it," she pleaded. Keen anxiety erased the cobbler's smiling expression. "Poor Peggy!" he groaned again. "She can't see where the bread's comin' from to feed another mouth, but as I says, 'Peggy, you said the same thing when Jinnie came, an' the blind child, an' this little one's straight from God's own tender breast.'" "That's so, Lafe," accorded Jinnie, "and, Oh, dearie, I'll work so hard, so awful hard to get in more wood, and tell me, tell me when, Lafe; when is he coming to us, the Jew baby?" Lafe smiled at her eagerness. "You feel the same way as I do, honey," he observed. "The very same way!... Why, girlie, when Peg first told me I thought I'd get up and fly!" "I should think so, but--but--I want to know how soon, Lafe, dear." "Oh, it's a long time, a whole lot of weeks!" "I wish it was to-morrow," lamented Jinnie, disappointedly. "I wonder if Peg'll let me hug and kiss him." "Sure," promised Lafe, and they lapsed into silence. At length, Jinnie stole to the kitchen. She returned with her violin box and Milly Ann in her arms. "Hold the kitty, darling," she said softly, placing the cat on his lap. "She'll be happy, too. Milly Ann loves us all, Milly Ann does." Then she took out the fiddle and thrummed the strings.