CHAPTER III
REHEARSING FOR THE SHOW
amine not only carried off a million of the living, but it claimed also the unborn. Anna's second child was born a few months after the siege was broken, but the child had been starved in its mother's womb and lived only three months. There was no wake. Wakes are for older people. There were no candles to burn, no extra sheet to put over the old dresser, and no clock to stop at the moment of death.
The little wasted thing lay in its undressed pine coffin on the table and the neighbors came in and had a look. Custom said it should be kept the allotted time and the tyrant was obeyed. A dozen of those to whom a wake was a means of change and recreation came late and planted themselves for the night.
"Ye didn't haave a hard time wi' th' second, did ye, Anna?" asked Mrs. Mulholland.
"No," Anna said quietly.
"Th' hard times play'd th' divil wi' it before it was born, I'll be bound," said a second.