Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/251

Rh Madame Ernst Sorel," said Rebecca. "After she married Daddy of course she went by his name and when she left us I don't know what she called herself. She might have made a big name for herself if she hadn't have been so busy getting married. At least, that is what I heard one of the men say at the studio. He was talking to a painty girl and didn't know I heard him. I'm kind of sorry for poor Mamma. She had too much temperament for her sense."

The Misses Taylor had gathered from various sources that their father was in communication with persons in New York and were sure that, had he proof of Rebecca's parentage, he would have divulged it. Spot was uncertain what to think about the child, but he had begun to like her so much it made little difference to him whether she had Taylor blood in her veins or not.

Spot's feeling about Taylor blood was not so intense as his sisters'. In fact he rather preferred any other blood. Certainly his own family had never done anything to endear themselves to the young man. His sisters seemed to feel that he was merely someone who might fetch and carry for them, see to it that they had plenty of early vegetables and that the cows