"
Then Lynda drew near with Ann. Betty stopped rocking and confronted the
two with her far-reaching, strangely penetrating gaze.
"What a beautiful little girl," she whispered.
"Is she beautiful, Betty?"
"She's--lovely. Come here, dear, and see my baby." Betty put forth a
welcoming hand to the child, but Ann shrank away and her long silence
was broken.
"I jes' naturally hate babies!" she whispered, in the soft drawl that
betrayed her.
"Lyn, who is she? Why--what is the matter?"
Lynda came close and her words did not reach past Betty's strained
hearing. "I--I'm going to--adopt her. I--I must prepare, Con. I hoped
you'd keep her for a few days."
"Of course I will, Lyn. I'm ready--but Lyn, tell me!"
"Betty, look at her! She has come out of--of Con's past. He doesn't
know, he mustn't know--not now! She belongs to--to the future. Can
you--can you understand? I never suspected until to-day. I've got to get
used to it!" Then, fiercely: "But I'm going to do it, Betty! Con's road
is my road; his duty my duty; it's all right--only just at first--I've
got to--steady my nerves!"
Without a word Betty rose and laid the now-sleeping baby in a crib; then
she came back to the low chair and opened her arms to little Ann with
the heaven-given gesture that no child resists--especially a suffering,
lonely child.
"Come here, little girl, to--to Aunt Betty," she said.
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