A baby had come, but he was not welcome. Could anything be sadder?The young mother lay with her white face to the wall, still as
Louis Vuitton Bags death. A woman opened the chamber door noiselessly and came in, the faint rustle of her garments disturbing the quiet air.A quick, eager turning of the head, a look half anxious, half fearful, and then the almost breathless question,"Where is my baby?""Never mind about the baby," was answered, almost coldly; "he's well enough. I'm more concerned about you.""Have you sent word to George?""George can't see you. I've said that before.""Oh, mother! I must see my husband.""Husband!" The tone of bitter
Louis Vuitton 2009 Handbags contempt with which the word was uttered struck the daughter like a blow. She had partly risen in her excitement, but now fell back with a low moan, shutting her eyes and turning her face away. Even as she did so, a young man stepped back from the door of the elegant house in which she lay with a baffled, disappointed air. He looked pale and wretched."Edith!" Two hours afterward the doctor stood over the young mother, and called her name. She did not move nor reply. He laid his hand on her cheek, and almost started, then bent down and looked at her intently for a moment or two. She had fever. A serious expression came into his face, and there was cause.The sweet rest and heavenly joy of maternity had been denied to his young patient. The new-born babe had not been
Gucci Replica Handbags suffered to lie even for one blissful moment on her bosom. Hard-hearted family pride and cruel worldliness had robbed her of the delight with which God ever seeks to dower young motherhood, and now the overtaxed body and brain had given way.For many weeks the frail young creature struggled with delirium--struggled and overcame."Where is my baby?"The first thought of returning consciousness was of her baby.A woman who sat in a distant part of the chamber started up and crossed to the bed. She was past middle life, of medium stature,
Gucci 2009 Handbags with small, clearly cut features and cold blue eyes. Her mouth was full, but very firm. Self-poise was visible even in her surprised movements. She bent over the bed and looked into Edith's wistful eyes."Where is my baby, mother?" Mrs. Dinneford put her fingers lightly on Edith's lips."You must be very quiet," she said, in a low, even voice. "The doctor forbids all excitement. You have been extremely ill.""Can't I see my baby, mother? It won't hurt me to see my baby.""Not now. The doctor--"Edith half arose in bed, a look of doubt and fear coming into her face."I want my baby, mother," she said, interrupting her.A hard, resolute expression came into the cold blue eyes of Mrs. Dinneford. She put her hand firmly against Edith and pressed her back upon the pillow."You have been very ill for nearly two months," she said, softening her voice. "No one thought you could live. Thank God! the crisis is over, but not the danger.""Two months! Oh, mother!"The slight flush that had come into Edith's wan face faded out, and the pallor it had hidden for a few moments became deeper. She shut her eyes and lay very still, but it was plain from the expression of her face that thought was busy."Not two whole months, mother?" she said, at length, in doubtful tones. "Oh no! it cannot be.""It is just as I have said, Edith; and now, my dear child, as you value your life, keep quiet; all excitement is dangerous."But repression was impossible. To Edith's consciousness there was no lapse of time. It seemed scarcely an hour since the birth of her baby and its removal from her sight. The inflowing tide of mother-love, the pressure and yearning sweetness of which she had begun to feel when she first called for the baby they had not permitted to rest, even for an instant, on her bosom, was now flooding her heart. Two months! If that were so, what of the baby? To be submissive was impossible.Starting up half wildly, a vague terror in her face, she cried, piteously,"Oh, mother, bring me my baby. I shall die if you do not!""Your baby is in heaven," said Mrs. Dinneford, softening her voice to a tone of tender regret.Edith caught her breath, grew very white, and then, with a low, wailing cry that sent a shiver through Mrs. Dinneford's heart, fell back, to all appearance dead.The mother did not call for help, but sat by the bedside of her daughter, and waited for the issue of this new struggle between life and death. There was no visible excitement, but her mouth was closely set and her cold blue eyes fixed in a kind of vacant stare.Edith was Mrs. Dinneford's only child, and she had loved her with the strong, selfish love of a worldly and ambitious woman. In her own marriage she had not consulted her heart. Mr. Dinneford's social position and wealth
Gucci bags were to her far more than his personal endowments. She would have rejected him without a quicker pulse-beat if these had been all he had to offer. He was disappointed, she was not. Strong, self-asserting, yet politic, Mrs Dinneford managed her good husband about as she pleased in all external matters, and left him to the free enjoyment of his personal tastes, preferences and friendships. The house they lived in, the furniture it contained, the style and equipage assumed by the family, were all of her choice, Mr. Dinneford giving merely a half-constrained or half-indifferent consent. He had learned, by painful and sometimes. humiliating experience, that any contest with Mrs. Helen Dinneford upon which he might enter was sure to end in his defeat.
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