The Boy Grew Older

tes ago," said the voice at

plied Peter Neal

quit just then. The other men might think he had timed his departure in order to save the dollar ante. He dealt the cards and picked up four spades and a heart. Eventually, he paid five dollars to draw and again he had four s

right, isn't it? I haven't any chips left. If somebody'll lend me a fountain pen I'll

as Peter waved the check back and forth to let it

ation pot," corrected so

elt a little as if he might begin to cry. When he spoke his voice was t

banker and was out of the room b

tulations," as he slammed the door behin

mile away. He wished that the nurse had said, "A fine boy," but

he thought, "she wouldn't ha

o the door of the small private hospital and let him in. "My name's P

s. Neale is fine too. You can see them both, but she's asleep now. You can't really see h

use it until she had learned to do it better. Some place or other he had read that babies were fearfully homely. Still it

nurse who brought him i

ded, "meet your son

oon as the door closed. After all, the other woman was just su

rub," said

get blacked?" Pe

always put that on a baby's eyes to m

nkling up its face, but it was not crying. There was nothing about his son to which Peter could take specific exception, but somehow he was disappointed. When he had said down at the New Yor

t," remarke

n of the discussion would merely promote hypocri

e. "You can only stay a second.

flung outside the cover and found the pulse of the sleeping girl and as

anything around here for a father to do. This isn't your job, you kno

d be playing cards when their sons were born. It had an air of reckless indifference about it which maddened her. Peter knew that he could not explain to her that he had not been free in spirit during the afternoon. He simply could not bear to stay out of a single pot. Hour after hour he kept coming in on m