‘You mustn’t say that, Cosmo; but still it is hard on nurse. Of course,’ with swimming eyes, ‘in a sense it’s hard on all of us—I mean to be expecting parents in these circumstances. There must be almost the same feeling of strangeness in the house as when it is a baby that is expected.’
‘I suppose it is a bit like that,’ Cosmo says gloomily. He goes to her as the awfulness of this sinks into him: ‘Great Scott, Amy, it can’t be quite so bad as that.’
Amy, who is of a very affectionate nature, is glad to have the comfort of his hand.
‘What do we really know about mother, Cosmo?’ she says darkly.
They are perhaps a touching pair.
‘There are her letters, Amy.’
‘Can one know a person by letters? Does she know you, Cosmo, by your letters to her, saying that your motto is “Something attempted, something done to earn a night’s repose,” and so on.’
‘Well, I thought that would please her.’
‘Perhaps in her letters she says things just to please us.’
Cosmo wriggles.