Part 26 (1/2)

”Well, you needn't go to sleep just because Richard is.”

My mother-in-law's impatient voice brought me back to myself. I apologized eagerly.

I have never seen any one enjoy food as my mother-in-law did the simple meal I had prepared for her. She ate every crumb, drank the wine, and drained the pot of tea before she spoke.

”How good that tasted!” she said gratefully as she finished, sinking back against my shoulder. I had not only propped her up with pillows, but had sat behind her as she ate, that she might have the support of my body.

”I think I can take a long nap now,” she went on. ”When I awake send Richard to me.”

I laid her down gently, arranged her pillows, and drew up the covers over her shoulders. She caught my hand and pressed it.

”My own daughter could not have been kinder to me than you have been,”

she said.

”I am glad to have pleased you, Mrs. Graham,” I returned. I suppose my reply sounded stiff, but I could not forget the day she came to us, and her contemptuous rejection of d.i.c.ky's proposal that I should call her ”Mother.”

She frowned slightly. ”Forget what I said that day I came,” she said quickly. ”Call me Mother, that is, if you can.”

For a moment I hesitated. The memory of her prejudice against me would not down. Then I had an illuminative look into the narrowness of my own soul. The sight did not please me. With a sudden resolve I bent down and kissed the cheek of my husband's mother.

”Of course, Mother,” I said quietly.

It must have been two hours at least that I sat watching the sick woman. She left her hand in mine a long time, then, with a drowsy smile, she drew it away, turned over with her face to the wall, and fell into a restful sleep. I listened to her soft, regular breathing until the sunlight faded and the room darkened.

I must have dozed in my chair, for I did not hear Katie come in or go to the kitchen. The first thing that aroused me was a voice that I knew, the high-pitched tones of Lillian Gale Underwood.

”I tell you, d.i.c.ky-bird, it won't do. She's got to know the truth.”

As Mrs. Underwood's shrill voice struck my ears, I sprang to my feet in dismay.

My first thought was of the sick woman over whom I was watching. Both Dr. Pett.i.t and the nurse, Miss Sonnot, had warned us that excitement might be fatal to their patient.

And the one thing in the world that might be counted on to excite my mother-in-law was the presence of the woman whose voice I heard in conversation with my husband.

I rose noiselessly from my chair and went into the living room, closing the door after me. Then with my finger lifted warningly for silence I forced a smile of greeting to my lips as Lillian Underwood saw me and came swiftly toward me.

”d.i.c.ky's mother is asleep,” I said in a low tone. ”I am afraid I must ask you to come into the kitchen, for she awakens so easily.”

Lillian nodded comprehendingly, but d.i.c.ky flushed guiltily as they followed me into the kitchen. Katie had left a few minutes before to run an errand for me.

d.i.c.ky's voice interrupted the words Lillian was about to speak to me.

I hardly recognized it, hoa.r.s.e, choked with feeling as it was.

”Lillian,” he said, ”you shall not do this. There is no need for you to bring all those old, horrible memories back. You have buried them and have had a little peace. If Madge is the woman I take her for she will be generous enough not to ask it, especially when I give her my word of honor that there is nothing in my past or yours which could concern her.”

”You have the usual masculine idea of what might concern a woman,”

Lillian retorted tartly.