"
The most amusing incident that I can remember about his childhood
was that when he was about seven years old he told me he was going
to have a natural child. I asked him his reasons for thinking this,
and he explained that papa and mamma had always told him that nobody
had children till they were married, and as long as he had believed
this of course he had had no idea of having a child till he was
grown-up; but not long since he had been reading Mrs. Markham's
history of England and had come upon the words, "John of Gaunt had
several natural children"; he had therefore asked his governess what a
natural child was- were not all children natural?
"Oh, my dear," said she, "a natural child is a child a person has
before he is married." On this it seemed to follow logically that if
John of Gaunt had had children before he was married, he, Ernest
Pontifex, might have them also, and he would be obliged to me if I
would tell him what he had better do under the circumstances.
I enquired how long ago he had made this discovery. He said about
a fortnight, and he did not know where to look for the child, for it
might come at any moment. "You know," he said, "babies come so
suddenly; one goes to bed one night and next morning there is a
baby.
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