“All right. But she had twin girls, the very next year, perfect ducks, and as healthy as you please, both of them.”
“It’s a boy that Ford wants, of course,” sighed Diana.
Rose, trying to imagine Ford in a paternal role, found herself obliged to maintain a careful silence upon the resultant picture.
“I think it’s very disappointing for a man, if his wife doesn’t have children, don’t you?” Diana asked wistfully.
“It’s just as disappointing for her—in fact more, very likely.”
“Of course, nearly every woman wants a baby, I suppose, but men do seem to feel they’d like someone to live on after them, to carry on the name. At least, that’s what Ford says.”
“Does he say it often?” Rose inquired drily, and felt ashamed when her sister-in-law replied simply and unresentfully:
“Yes, he does.”
“I wish you had got a child,” she said helplessly. “It’s awfully hard on you, especially if Ford——”
Rose stopped abruptly.