“Do you mean to insinuate that I ought to give up my work?”
“Oh! You must do as you like about that!”
“And become your slave!”
“No, I don’t mean that at all!”
The little one was not at all well; all children are ill occasionally. He was teething! One day’s leave after another! The poor baby suffered from toothache. She had to soothe him at night, work at the office during the day, sleepy, tired, anxious, and again take a day off.
The green forester did his best and carried the baby about in his arms half the night, but he never said a word about his wife’s work at the goods department.
Nevertheless she knew what was in his mind. He was waiting for her to give in; but he was deceitful and so he said nothing! How treacherous men were! She hated him; she would sooner kill herself than throw up her work and “be his slave.”
The forester saw quite clearly now that it was impossible for any woman to emancipate herself from the laws of nature; under present circumstances, he was shrewd enough to add.
When the baby was five months old, it was plainly evident that the whole thing would before very long repeat itself.
What a catastrophe!