“There’s a young woman come to apply for the situation,” she announced.
“Does she seem likely to be any good?” asked Ruth, still busy with the incubator.
“She’s got a baby,” said Miss McCox, who always came to the point. “And she wants to keep it.”
“A baby?”
“A baby,” repeated Miss McCox firmly. “A baby as didn’t ought to have come, but it’s there.”
“Oh!” said Ruth weakly. “Well, what do you think about it?”
Miss McCox fingered the amber brooch. This Ruth knew to be a distinct sign of weakness.
“The young woman’s civil spoken, and I reckon there’s worse about with their ring on,” she said darkly. “I’m willin’ to try her, if you are.”
Ruth hid a smile among the yellow chicks. The charm of Bertram Aurelius had worked.
“But the baby?” she asked. “Can we possibly manage with the baby?”