It was on a Saturday, three weeks after Mrs. Hunter’s return, that Elizabeth asked to make her first visit with the baby.
“Aunt Susan was here so much while I was sick, John, that I feel that we must go to see them to-morrow.”
“Oh, my goodness!” John replied, stepping to the cupboard to put away the pile of plates in his hands. “I’m tired enough to stay at home.”
They had just finished washing the supper dishes together, and Elizabeth considered as she emptied the dishpan and put it away. She had been refused so often that she rather expected it, and yet she had thought by the cordiality with which John had always treated Aunt Susan that he would be reasonable about this visit now that she was able, and the baby old enough to go out.
Elizabeth was never clear about a difficulty, nor had her defences well in hand upon the first occasion. With those she loved, and with John in particular, any offence had to be repeated over and over again before she could protect herself. She felt her way slowly and tried to preserve her ideals; she tried to be fair. She could not tell quickly what to do about a situation; she took a long time to get at her own attitudes and understand them, and it took her still longer to get at the real intentions of others. As she brought out her cold-boiled potatoes and began to peel them for breakfast, she reflected that Aunt Susan had come as regularly to see them as if she had always been well treated, until Mrs. Hunter’s coming. At that point the visits had dropped off.
“Baby is nearly three months old, and I promised Aunt Susan that I’d take him to see her the first place I took him. We owe it to her, and I’m not going to neglect her any more. We can leave a dinner of cold chicken and pies for the men, and I’ll get a hot supper for them when I come home. I’d like to start about ten o’clock.”
It sounded so much as if it were all settled that the girl felt that it really was.
“That leaves mother here alone all day, and I’m not going to do it,” John returned with equal assurance.
“Mother can go with us. I should want her to do that, and I’m sure Aunt Susan would.”
Mrs. Hunter was passing through the room with the broom and dustpan and paused long enough to say pleasantly: