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522 THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP
the little lady went away straight to her darling shop in the Yard—
(Hanway Yard has become a street now, but ah! it is always
delightful)—Charlotte, I say, went off, ran off to Hanway Yard,
pavid with fear lest the darling cloak should be gone, found it—oh,
joy !—still in Miss Isaacson's window ; put it on baby straightway
then and there ; kissed the dear infant, and was delighted with the
effect of the garment, which all the young ladies at Miss Isaacson's
pronounced to be perfect; and took the cloak away on baby's
shoulders, promising to send the money, five pounds, if you please,
next day. And in this cloak baby and Charlotte went to meet
papa when he came home; and I don't know which of them,
mamma or baby, was the most pleased and absurd and happy baby
of the two. On his way home from his newspaper, Mr. Philip had
orders to pursue a certain line of streets, and when his accustomed
hour for returning from his business drew nigh, Mrs. Char went down
Thornhaugh Street, down Charlotte Street, down Rathbone Place,
with Betsy the nursekin and baby in the new cloak. Behold, he
comes at last—papa—striding down the street. He sees the figures:
he sees the child, which laughs, and holds out its little pink hands,
and crows a recognition. And "Look—look, papa," cries the
happy mother. (Away ! I cannot keep up the mystery about the
baby any longer, and though I had forgotten for a moment the
child's sex, remembered it the instant after, and that it was a girl,
to be sure, and that its name was Laura Caroline.) "Look, look,
papa !" cries the happy mother. " She has got another little tooth
since the morning, such a beautiful little tooth—and look here, sir,
don't you observe anything ?"
"Any what?" asks Philip.
" La! sir," says Betsy, giving Laura Caroline a great toss, so
that her white cloak floats in the air.
" Isn't it a dear cloak ?" cries mamma ; " and doesn't baby look
like an angel in it ? I bought it at Miss Isaacson's to-day, as you
got your money from New York ; and oh, my dear, it only cost five
guineas."
" Well, it's a week's work," sighs poor Philip ; " and I think I
need not grudge that to give Charlotte pleasure." And he feels his
empty pockets rather ruefully.
"God bless you, Philip," says my wife, with her eyes full.
"They came here this morning, Charlotte and the nurse and the
baby in the new—the new _________ " Here the lady seized hold of
Philip's hand, and fairly broke out into tears. Had she embraced
Mr. Firmin before her husband's own eyes, I should not have been
surprised. Indeed she confessed that she was on the point of giving
way to this most sentimental outbreak.