human
Does--he--look--just the same to you?
gpt
Why, yes! Gaston repressed the desire to laugh.
human
You see babies are not much in my line. I don't think I ever saw such a little fellow before. They look about the same for a long time, don't they?
gpt
Oh! no. They change every day, and many times during the day. I weighed baby to-day, she faltered,
human
The ungrateful little heathen!
gpt
I'm afraid--I'm not a good mother. The sweet face quivered.
human
And I want to be that more than anything else on earth. You see if I can get him through--through this awful time when I can't tell just what might be the matter--it will be easy enough. But young babies are so--so--unreal. You don't know whether you've got them to keep or not. They seem to be kind of holding on to another life, while they clutch this. A good mother knows how to unloose them from that other hold.
gpt
Would it be so--so terrible if he did not let go that--other hold?
human
Terrible? Joyce gasped.
gpt
Why, if--if he should leave me, I couldn't live. You don't know how it seems to have him warm and little and soft against your heart. The whole world would be empty--empty, until it would kill me with the emptiness--and I'd always think, you know, he'd found out I wasn't fit to be his mother. It's a foolish fancy, but you know, Mr. Gaston, I think they come to try us mothers--if they find us out--not fit--they don't stay. Such a lot of babies don't stay!
human
Why Joyce! Gaston tried to turn his gaze from that awful baby-stare.
gpt
Full of whim-whams and moonshine. You must get about more. You must come up to Drew's house to-morrow. It's a palace of a place--and Filmer had a letter from Drew to-day. He's coming before the autumn cold sets in--he's going to bring an aunt and a sister--just get your idle fancy on the doings, and let Master Malcolm jog along at his own pace. If he doesn't like you for a mother, he isn't worth considering. Look at him now--he sees the joke, the brazen little cuss, he's actually laughing in our faces.
human
Oh!