“To ‘us’?” she interrupted sharply. “To whom?”
“Well, to me, of course; but I mean mother, too, though she’s never said anything about it. We’ve all been as fond of Martha all her life as if she was one of our own family, and, for instance, I think mother was probably a little worried because she thought she’d better not invite her to-night, on your account. What I mean, though, is that I probably mightn’t have told you about our goin’ in to see her that night, even if I had thought of it afterwards, because as I knew how you felt about her I’d have been afraid of it’s gettin’ you into one of these upsetnesses. I guess I’d have been right, too,” he added, with a rueful laugh. “Somebody’s told you about it, and you _have_ got into one.”
“How kind of you! So you admit you went running to her the minute the baby was born, and yet you knew perfectly well how I felt about her.”
“Well—I knew how unreasonably you felt about her.”
“‘Unreasonably?’” Lena cried shrilly. “What a wise little word! When you told her she was the only woman in the world who understands you!”
“No, no! _I_ don’t care who understands me,” Dan protested unhappily. “I meant she was the only one that would understand what I was sayin’ about the baby. I just _had_ to talk about him, and she always understands anything at a time like that—or any time, for that matter. She——”
“Go on!” Lena said. “Go on making it worse!”
“Explain _this_, then! You told her you wanted my child to grow up to be like _her_.”
“Why, yes,” Dan said reasonably. “I didn’t mean to _look_ like her; I only meant I hoped he’d have her qualities. Anybody that knows Martha would feel that way, Lena. Why, except my own father and mother, she’s the most even-tempered, understanding, helpful kind of person I ever knew in my life. Why, everybody in town looks up to her just the same as I do, and _any_body’d have said _that_ to her, Lena. You would yourself, if you had only not let yourself get prejudiced against her about nothin’ at all and just been sensible enough to really get acquainted with her.”
Lena stood before him rigidly, except for the trembling, which had increased a little. “Tell me another thing,” she said. “When a young wife becomes a mother, does her husband ever consult her before inviting a woman she doesn’t like to act as godmother for the child?”
