“It was too much for the poor soul,” says Caudle; “she sobbed as if her heart would break, and I - ” and here the MS. is blotted, as though Caudle himself had dropped tears as he wrote.
LECTURE XVI - BABY IS TO BE CHRISTENED; MRS. CAUDLE CANVASSES THE MERITS OF PROBABLE GODFATHERS
“Come, now, love, about baby’s name? The dear thing’s three months old, and not a name to its back yet. There you go again! Talk of it to-morrow! No; we’ll talk of it to-night. There’s no having a word with you in the daytime - but here you can’t leave me. Now don’t say you wish you could, Caudle; that’s unkind, and not treating a wife - especially the wife to you - as she deserves. It isn’t often that I speak but I do believe you’d like never to hear the sound of my voice. I might as well have been born dumb!
“I suppose the baby must have a godfather; and so, Caudle, who shall we have? Who do you think will be able to do the most for it? No, Caudle, no; I’m not a selfish woman - nothing of the sort - but I hope I’ve the feelings of a mother; and what’s the use of a godfather if he gives nothing else to the child but a name? A child might almost as well not be christened at all. And so who shall we have? What do you say?
“Anybody?
“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, Caudle? Don’t you think something will happen to you, to talk in that way? I don’t know where you pick up such principles. I’m thinking who there is among our acquaintance who can do the most for the blessed creature, and you say, - ‘Anybody!’ Caudle, you’re quite a heathen.
“There’s Wagstaff. No chance of his ever marrying, and he’s very fond of babies. He’s plenty of money, Caudle; and I think he might be got. Babies, I know it - babies are his weak side. Wouldn’t it be a blessed thing to find our dear child in his will? Why don’t you speak? I declare, Caudle, you seem to care no more for the child than if it was a stranger’s. People who can’t love children more than you do, ought never to have ’em.
“You don’t like Wagstaff?
“No more do I much; but what’s that to do with it? People who’ve their families to provide for, mustn’t think of their feelings. I don’t like him; but then I’m a mother, and love my baby.
“You won’t have Wagstaff and that’s flat?