ave a death blow to certain hopes she had cherished. She had
long debated in her mind if she should apply the gold-mounted dressing
case which Windebank had sent her for a wedding present to a purchase
very near to her heart. She knew that, if he could know of the purpose
to which she contemplated devoting it, and of her straightened
circumstances, he would wish her to do as she desired. Having no other
money available, she was tempted to sell or pawn the dressing case, to
buy with the proceeds a handsome outfit for the expected little life,
one that should not be unworthy of a gentlewoman's child. She felt
that, as, owing to the unconventional circumstances of its birth, the
little one might presently be deprived of many of life's advantages, it
should at least be appropriately clad in the early days of its
existence. She had already selected the intended purchase, and was
rejoicing in its richness and variety, when the reply came to her
letter to Perigal that returned the five-pound note. This told Mavis
what straitened circumstances her lover was in. He asked what she had
done with the gold-mounted dressing case, and, if it were still in her
possession, if she could possibly let him have the loan of it in order
to weather an impending financial storm. With a heart that strove
valiantly to be cheerful, Mavis renounced further thought of the
contemplated layette, and sent off the dressing case to her lover. It
was a further (and this time a dutiful) sacrifice of self on the altar
of the loved one. Most of her spare time was now devoted to the making
of the garments, which, in the ordinary course of nature, would be
wanted in about two months. Sometimes, while working, she would sing
little songs that would either stop short soon after they were started,
or else would continue almost to the finish, when they would end
abruptly in a sigh. Often she would wonder if the child, when born,
would resemble its father or its mother; if her recent experiences
would affect its nature: all the thousand and one things that that most
holy thing on earth, an expectant, loving mother, thinks of the life
which love has called into being.

At all times she told herself that, if her wishes were consulted, she
would prefer the child to be a boy, despite the fact that it was a more
serious matter to launch a son on the world than a daughter. But she
knew well that, if anything were to happen to her lover (this was now
her euphemism for his