He is as glad as she. 'Home, memsahib. And we've never had a real one before. Thank God, I'm able to give it you at last.' She darts impulsively from one object in the room to another. 'Look, these pictures. I'm sure they are all Amy's work. They are splendid.' With perhaps a moment's misgiving, 'Aren't they?' '_I_ couldn't have done them,' the Colonel says guardedly. He considers the hand-painted curtains. 'She seems to have stopped everything in the middle. Still I couldn't have done them. I expect this is what is called a cosy corner.' But Alice has found something more precious. She utters little cries of rapture. 'What is it?' 'Oh, Robert, a baby's shoe. My baby.' She presses it to her as if it were a dove. Then she is appalled. 'Robert, if I had met my baby coming along the street I shouldn't have known her from other people's babies.' 'Yes, you would,' the Colonel says hurriedly. 'Don't break down _now_. Just think, Alice; after to-day, you will know your baby anywhere.' 'Oh joy, joy, joy.' Then the expression of her face changes to 'Oh woe, woe, woe.' 'What is it now, Alice?' 'Perhaps she won't like me.' 'Impossible.' 'Perhaps none of them will like me.' 'My dear Alice, children always love their mother, whether they see much of her or not. It's an instinct.' 'Who told you that?' 'You goose. It was yourself.' 'I've lost faith in it.' He thinks it wise to sound a warning note. 'Of course you must give