His wife sent him a glance of obviously feigned reproach, and thereupon confessed that she should be as happy with one as with the other.  But Edward felt that he ought to represent the matter in its proper light, and affirmed that every girl anxious to work goes into life handicapped, and that nine times out of ten when a girl marries she reaches the goal of her ambition.  In adopting a girl, therefore, while they might contribute much to their own happiness, they could not reasonably hope to enrich the world greatly.  On the other hand, from a boy properly selected, carefully reared, and soundly educated, they might with good reason expect the very highest results.  Ellen took some mental exceptions to this argument, on behalf of her sex, but she deemed it unnecessary to express them. | She entered enthusiastically into his project, and they speedily agreed that Dr. Kreiss, their titular family physician,—­they had never yet had occasion to consult him,—­should be requested to look about for a suitable boy.

Edward hailed the doctor on Fourth Street the next day, and presented his case.

“I see exactly what you want, said the doctor.  “Must be ’young, sound, and kind,’ I reckon we can fill the bill.  You would rather have an orphan, I suppose?”

“Oh, by all means!  There might be some unpleasant results otherwise.”

“Likely enough,” replied the doctor.  “But it will not be so easy to lay our hands on a first-class orphan baby.  I could get you plenty of boys four or five years old.”

But Edward explained that infancy was a sine qua non.  They especially wished that the child should be too young to have acquired tastes or habits of any kind, whether good or the reverse.  They did not seek to gratify a mere whim of the moment,—­simply to provide themselves with a plaything,—­but hoped to aid in shaping a life of more than ordinary usefulness and worth.  The doctor made answer that he would gladly do his best to find such a child as they wished, that he had no doubt of ultimate success, but that they must be prepared to wait.

This interview having been reported to Ellen, the life of the Lindsays at once assumed a brighter character.  Edward went to his business with greater zest, and in his wife’s eyes was a light he had not seen there for many a day.  They now revived their old-time theories of education and physical training.  They dispassionately reviewed the respective advantages of European and American universities.  They spent a good deal of time in discussing the eligibility of the professions as well as of the sciences and arts.  Edward argued that business of any kind was practically out of the question, because, with real estate in its present favorable condition, a few more years would render mere money-getting wholly unnecessary for a child of theirs.  They speculated, of course, upon the personal appearance of their expected heir, but they wisely deferred any expression of preference