‘Father, what are we to do?’
‘We can do nothing but keep the child here—at all events for a few hours, Liz. I know of no one else to take charge of it, or, at least, no one whom I could trust. To-morrow I will go over to the Fort and consult Dr Martin; but for the present it must remain with you, and I will take this girl back to Shanty Hill, to see that she speaks to no one in the plantation. Here, Judy, give the baby to Miss Liz, and you shall go back to Shanty Hill with me. Are you sure that Mammy Lila is gone?’
‘Sure, massa! Why, she cold as a stone, and Uncle Josh making her coffin already. The last words she sez was, “Take chile back to Doctor, and say Mammy can’t do no more;” and den she lay her head down and shut her eyes, and I run for Aunty Cora, and she say Mammy dead as a door nail.’
‘All right, Judy. I’m very sorry to hear it, but I’ll go back with you all the same.’
He reached down his hat and stick as he spoke, and turned to his daughter before he left the room.
‘I’ll be back in an hour or two, Liz. Take the child into the inner room, and don’t leave the house till I return. I didn’t know the fever had reached Shanty Hill. I must see some sanitary precautions carried out there.’
The young negress placed the infant in Lizzie’s outstretched arms.
‘You’ll be glad to get it back again, I guess,’ she said slyly, as she deposited it there.
‘I’m not so sure of that,’ replied Liz, taking no further notice of the remark, as she carried her burden tenderly away.
She placed it on the bed, and carefully unfolded the wrappings round it. She had a natural curiosity to see the little creature born of one so near and dear to her, even though it had no title but to a heritage of shame. And when she saw it, the maternal instinct so strong in the breasts of all good and pure women rose like a fountain in her heart, and overflowed for the poor motherless and fatherless baby thrown so unexpectedly upon her care.