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"You can't wait to see what?" Sarah asked, although she knew perfectly well that Charity meant the baby. "Your child, Little Mother! What else?" Charity searched through the suite until she found the crib, then picked up Joe with a skill that surprised Sarah.

I always have to keep reminding myself that Charity is far less incompetent-and much more intelligent-than she, for some reason, likes to paint herself "He's adorable!" Charity said. "Thank you," Sarah said.

"I would never have dreamed you had it in you," Charity said. "But then, no one did, did they? Still waters, daahling, that sort of thing." There were two remarks in that that could be innocent but I know were not. I should he offended and angry, Sarah thought, but of course I'm not.

Charity is Charity. "If this precious little bundle is the wages of sin, daahling, you're just going to have to find a sailor for me."

Sarah laughed, although she knew she shouldn't.

"The sailors seem to be spoken for," she said.

"Would you settle for an Air Corps fighter pilot?"

"Have you one?"

Charity asked, bright with interest. "I've got one coming in the morning Sarah said.

"He's the man who saved Eddie's life."

"A bona fide hero? Marvelous!

I wanted to see you, of course, and the bundle of joy here, but I wasn't really looking forward to a whole weekend of watching you change his diapers. Which, incidentally, is necessary now." She handed the baby to Sarah, then gestured at the furniture in the room. It had been furnished with the reputation of Child and Company, Merchant Bankers, in mind.

Most of the Louis XIV furniture was genuine, and so were the Matisse and the Gains borough and the other paintings hung on the brocade walls. "It looks like a museum," Charity pronounced.

"The only thing that's missing are velvet ropes and signs saying "Please Do Not Touch."

"It belongs to the bank," Sarah said.

"My father turned it over to us. You just can't find anywhere to live in Washington."

"Being rich is nice, isn't it?" Charity said.

"What about the admiral? How did he react to finding out that supporting you isn't going to be the usual problem?"

"Ed is a lieutenant commander," Sarah said.

"He can support us. "Not like this," Charity said flatly. She followed Sarah into the bedroom and sniffed loudly as Sarah changed Joe's diaper.

AISNE My God, do they all smell that bad, or have you been feeding that innocent child something you shouldn't have?"

"You get used to it," Sarah said, and then: "Ed's father is a commodities broker in Chicago. His mother is Ann's father's sister."

"In other words, the Chambers Publishing Company," Charity said.

"Uh-huh," Sarah said. "So you won't have to take in washing, will you?

What did you get from them for a wedding present?" Sarah did not want to tell Charity that there had been two large checks, from Ed's father and hers, "to help them get started." So she pretended not to have heard the question. "The story is that Ed and I were married secretly before he went off to the Flying Tigers," she said.

"I hope you can go along with that." Charity was not ready to give up.

"That got them off cheap, didn't it?" Charity asked, making it a statement If I let that go unanswered, Charity will decide that our parents are cheap, andlor that they disapprove of the marriage. "The Bitters wanted to give us a car," Sarah said, "but my father had already given us one."

"Hold out for a newspaper," Charity said.

"That would be a nice little nest egg in case the admiral misbehaves when the novelty wears off."

"Before he gets here, Charity," Sarah said sharply, "I want to ask you not to make fun of his being in the Navy. He's an Annapolis graduate, a career officer, and he might not understand you."