for all those lovely vacation
picnics which she had been planning for herself and Janet and Jackie?...
Jackie!... She had forgotten: _there wasn't any Jackie now_.

Rosie stopped, expecting again to be swallowed up in that ancient grief.
But it scarcely touched her. Instead, she found herself looking at
Jackie with the critical eyes of an outsider. He was pretty big. Perhaps
he did not need her any longer. George Riley and Danny Agin and Janet
McFadden and Terry and her mother--hadn't each of them said the same
thing? Rosie had wanted to make herself believe that they were all in
league against her, but deep down in her heart she knew they were not
and had always known it. Now at last she was ready to confess the truth:
Jack did not need her any longer.... And poor little Geraldine did.

Of course, though, she would never love Geraldine. All the love in her
heart she had poured out upon Jackie, and there simply wasn't any left.
How could there be? It was merely that, in any case, she must fill up
the barren days remaining with something. Why not with Geraldine?

It would, however, be rather pleasant to see Geraldine grow plump and
happy under her wise care. Ever since hot weather the poor birdie had
not had half enough sleep. Rosie would not be long in remedying that.
And it would surprise her much if she did not have the little chafed
body well within a week....

When you take a baby to raise, it's a satisfaction to get a pretty one.
Geraldine promised to be very pretty. Her hair was growing out in loose
little ringlets like Rosie's own, and her eyes, too, were like Rosie's,
only bluer. Perhaps, when Rosie fattened her, she would have a dimple.
Rosie herself had a lovely dimple that was much admired. Let's see: was
it in the right cheek or the left? Rosie made sure by smiling and
feeling for it. Yes, she really hoped that Geraldine would develop a
dimple. Was there anything on earth sweeter than a dimpled baby?... The
baby-buggy was a rickety old affair that had done service for Jackie and
for little Tim that was gone. Rosie did wish they could afford a nice
new up-to-date go-cart. No matter, though. Having any sort of thing to
push about, would give her and Janet all the excuse they needed to
promenade for hours up and down Boulevard Place.

Not that Rosie was looking forward with any pleasure to her new
undertaking. Heavens, no! She shook her head emphatically. Henceforth it
was duty, not pleasure, to which she