"Drink it, my dear. It will do us both good," cried Mrs Gowler, who already showed signs of having drunk more than she could conveniently carry.
Mavis, not to seem ungracious, sipped the stout as she sat on the bed.
"'Ow is it you ain't in a proper nursing 'ome?" asked Mrs Gowler, after she had opened the second bottle.
"Aren't I?" asked Mavis quickly.
"I've 'eard of better," answered Mrs Gowler guardedly. "Though, after all, I may be a better friend to you than all o' them together, with their doctors an' all."
"Indeed!" remarked Mavis, wondering what she meant.
"But that's tellin's," continued Mrs Gowler, looking greedily at Mavis from the depths of her little eyes.
"Is it?"
"Babies is little cusses; noisy, squally little brats."
"Not one's own."