?"

"Oh, no--" Ariadne began to explain, but the doctor had darted to the
window. You could see the grape-arbor plainly from there--Muvver sitting
with her hair all mussed up around her face, listening to the new man,
who sat across the table from her and talked and talked and talked, and
never moved a finger. Uncle Marius put his hand up quick to his side and
said something Ariadne couldn't catch. She looked up, saw his face, and
ran away, terrified, to hide her face in 'Stashie's dirty apron. Now she
knew how Uncle Marius looked when he was angry. She heard him go out and
down the steps, and went fearfully to watch him. He went across the
grass to the arbor. The others looked toward him without moving, and
when he came close and leaned against the table, Muvver looked up at him
and said something, and then leaned back again, her head resting against
the chair, her eyes closed, her hands dropped down. How tired Muvver
always looked!

And just then 'Stashie spilled all the cocoa she was going to use to
flavor the pudding with. She spilled it on the stove, and it smoked and
stinked--there was nobody nowadays to forbid Ariadne to use 'Stashie's
words--and 'Stashie said there wasn't any more and they'd have to go off
to the grocery-store to get some, and if Ariadne knew where that nickel
was Mis' Sandworth give her, they could get a soda-water on the way, and
with two straws it would do for both.

CHAPTER XXXIII

WHAT IS BEST FOR THE CHILDREN?

Lydia lifted her face, white under the shadow of her disordered hair,
and said: "It is Mr. Rankin who must take care of the children--Ariadne,
and the baby if it lives."

She spoke in a low, expressionless voice, as though she had no strength
to spare. Dr. Melton's hand on the table began to shake. He answered: "I
have told you before, my dear, that there is no reason for your fixed
belief that you will not live after the baby's birth. You must not dwell
on that so steadily."

Lydia raised her heavy eyes once more to his. "I want him to have the
children," she said.

The doctor took a step or two away from the table. He was now shaking
from head to foot, and when he came back to the silent couple and took a
chair between them he made two or three attempts at speech before he
could command his voice. "It is very hard on me, Lydia, to--to have you
turn from me to a--to a stranger." His voice had grotesque quavers.

Lydia raised a thin, trembling hand, and laid it on