“What in the world can have brought her to this neighborhood?”
“I haven’t a notion. Mrs. Flint spoke also of Mrs. Brooke’s fondness for her child.”
“Fondness!” Dulcibel uttered with scorn.
“It sounded incongruous with existing facts; but we do not understand yet.”
“Quite impossible that anybody with feelings should understand such a mother,” said Dulcibel.
George’s hand found its way to Joan’s dark head, and her eyes looked up in rapturous response.
“Dulcie—” and his voice deepened in tone—“suppose things should really turn out as you expect?”
“How?”
“Suppose we should fail to find the mother.”
“We can’t fail; because she is found. And if she doesn’t want to care for the child, she must be made to do so.”