“Mother!” exclaimed Augusta. “You—you look terribly. How you must have suffered. Has the pain gone?”
“Yes, the pain has gone.”
“Well, I am glad you are better——”
“It will be a long while before I am better. Oh, I want your father! Cable to him! Go for him! Do anything, only bring him here.”
“I’ll cable this minute if you are really ill. But what is the matter?”
Mrs. Forbes muttered something. Augusta bent her ear. “What?” she asked. Her mother repeated what she had said. As Augusta lifted her head her face was scarlet.
“Gracious goodness!” she ejaculated. “Who would ever have thought of such a thing?” She walked aimlessly to the window, then returned to her mother. “Well,” she added, “it’s nothing to be so upset about. It isn’t as if it were your first. And papa will be delighted.”
Mrs. Forbes flung her arms over the table, her head upon them, and burst into wild sobbing.
“Good heavens, mother, don’t take on so,” cried her daughter. “What good could papa do if he were here? I hope I’ll never have a baby if it affects one like that.”
She hovered over her mother, much embarrassed. She was not heartless and would have been glad to relieve her distress; but inasmuch as she was incapable of such distress herself she comprehended not the least of what possessed her mother. She took refuge upon the plane where she was ever at home.