Mrs. Mortimer stopped her restless pace up and down the old-fashioned, high-ceilinged room, and made a gesture for silence. “I thought I heard something—up there,” she explained, motioning to the upper part of the house. “I wonder what made Lydia so sure beforehand that she wouldn’t live through this?”
“Well, I guess from what the nurse told me there isn’t much chance for her,” said Madeleine in a hard voice. Her color was not so high as usual, her beautiful face looked grim, and she spoke in a bitter tone of seriousness that made her seem quite another person. Marietta’s thin, dark countenance gave less indication of her mood, whatever it was. She looked sallow and worn, and only her black eyes, hot and gloomy, showed emotion.
Both women were silent a moment, listening to the sound of footsteps overhead. “It seems as though it must be over soon now!” cried the childless one of the two, drawing in her breath sharply. “It makes me furious to think of women suffering so. Bertha Williamson was telling me the other day about when her little Walter was born—it made me sick!”
The matron looked at her and shivered a little, but made no response.
“The nurse says Lydia is mostly unconscious now. Perhaps the worst is over for her! Poor Lyd! What do you suppose made her act so?” went on Madeleine, moving about restlessly, her voice uncertain. She went to the window, and drew aside the shade to look out into the blackness. “Oh, I wish the men would come! What time is it, do you suppose? Yes, I see; half-past three. Oh, it must be over soon! I wish they’d come! You telegraphed George, didn’t you? Heavens! how it rains!”
“He was to come on the midnight train. Is your husband—”
“Oh, he was horrid about it—wanted me to do it all myself. He’s in the midst of some big deal or other. But I told him he’d have to come and help out, or I’d—I’d kill him! He’ll bring the lawyer.”
“Where do you suppose?” began Marietta, looking over her shoulder.
“Out in his shanty in the Black Rock woods,” said Madeleine harshly, “with no idea of what’s going on. Just before you came, the doctor sent out for a messenger to take him word, and you’d better believe I got hold of that messenger!”
“Of course that’ll make things easier,” said Marietta.