"You couldn't have known if nobody told you."
"I did know. If he dies I shall have killed him. I ought to have stopped him. I was the only one who knew."
"You couldn't have stopped him. You were only a child yourself when it happened. If anybody was to blame it was his mother."
"It wasn't. She didn't know. Mamma never knows anything she doesn't want to know. She can't see that he's ill now. She talks as if he ought to do something. She can't stand men who don't do things like Mark and Dan."
"What on earth does she suppose he could do? He's no more fit to do anything than my brother James…. You'll have to take care of him, Mary."
A sharp and tender pang went through her. It was like desire; like the feeling you had when you thought of babies: painful and at the same time delicious.
"Could you?" said Dr. Charles.
"Of course I can."
"If he's taken care of he might live—"
She stood up and faced him. "How long?"