"Julia hates men."
"I don't believe it, my love."
Marie went into her dining-room and looked around it with a new sense of authority; she was now a complete law unto that room and all in it.
"I've got a cup of soup for you here, dear," said Grannie Amber, bustling to the fireplace.
"Mother, you shouldn't trouble yourself! But how nice it is!" She drank gratefully, then put the usual question with the usual anxiety:
"Babes been well? And good?"
"They've been lambs," said Grannie warmly.
"What a pity I folded up Osborn's bed, and put it in the children's room! You could have slept here to-night, mother."
"My duck, I'd rather sleep in my own bed," said the old lady, "and I'll be putting my things on, and going there now. You have the woman coming in the morning?"
"Yes—and every morning."