"Thank God! I'm so glad. All things are working together for good, even my getting hurt, Maggie dear. We shall be happier than we've ever been when I get home again."
"We'll try," whispered Maggie; and then she had to go, for nurse durst not allow her to stay longer.
"Mr. Drummond can get leave for you to come again very soon, Mrs. Livesey," she said, by way of comforting Maggie for having to leave her husband. "He's one of our trustees, and such a good visitor. He brings comfort with him whenever he enters the ward."
Margaret could well believe this, and thanked the nurse for all her kindness. She turned to give Adam a last smile and look, and Mrs. Evans thought how well she had borne up during their meeting. But when they got into the cab to return home, she startled her good friend not a little by a burst of weeping, and by words which followed the tears.
"I'm thankful I've seen him just once. It has been hard work to keep up now, but I shan't be able to go again for a while."
"Nurse said you might, and that Mr. Drummond would see about it."
"Aye, but I shan't be able," wailed Margaret.
The words perplexed Mrs. Evans, but she understood their meaning very soon. A few hours later, the effects of the shock Maggie had sustained when she heard that Adam had been killed were more fully shown. The little babe, whose coming she had been looking forward to with no little anxiety, was prematurely born. There would be no sweet cares in connection with a new life in the home, no extra work for the mother's hands, already full enough. But there were very present anxieties about the mother herself.
The doctor looked grave, and enforced absolute quiet, owning, too, that the case was at best a serious one. Neighbours, always full of sympathy at such a time, volunteered to take the children out of the way in the daytime, and, if needful, to give them a share of such sleeping accommodation as they possessed.
Mrs. Evans and Sarah were, however, aware of Margaret's particularity with regard to her children, and undertook to insure quiet in the home by arrangements of their own.