em. Beyond giving Mavis the curtest of nods, this young person took
no notice of her.

Mavis was more grateful than otherwise for Miss Hunter's indifference;
she had feared a series of searching questions with regard to all that
had happened since she had been away from Melkbridge.

Miss Toombs's appearance and conduct at meeting with Mavis was not the
only strange behaviour which she displayed. When anyone came into the
office, she seemed in a fever of apprehension; also, when anyone spoke
to Mavis, her friend would at once approach and speak in such a manner
as to send them about their business as soon as possible. Mavis
wondered what it could mean.

Her boy did not seem quite so well when she got back to Mrs Trivett's
for the midday meal. During the afternoon's work, her anxiety was such
that she could scarcely concentrate her attention on what she was
doing. When she hurried home in the evening, the boy was decidedly
worse; there was no gainsaying the seriousness of his symptoms. Every
time Mavis tried to make him take nourishment, he would cry out as if
it hurt him to swallow.

Mrs Trivett, who had had much experience with the ailments of a
sister's big family, feared that the baby was sickening for something.
Mavis would have sent for a doctor at once, but Mrs Trivett pointed out
that doctors could do next to nothing for sick babies beyond ordering
them to be kept warm and to have nourishment in the shape of two drops
of brandy in water every two hours; also, that if it were necessary to
have skilled advice, the doctor had better be sent for when Mavis was
at the boot factory; otherwise, he might ask questions bearing on
matters which, just now, Mavis would prefer not to make public. Mrs
Trivett had much trouble in making the distraught mother appreciate the
wisdom of this advice. She only fell in with the woman's views when she
reflected, quite without cause, that the doctor's inevitable
questioning might, in some remote way, compromise her lover. Late in
the evening, when it was dark, Miss Toombs came round to see how
matters were going.

"It's all your fault, foolish Mavis, for coming to Melkbridge," she
remarked, when Mavis had told her of her perplexities.

"But how was I to know?"

"The only way to have guarded against complications was to keep away
altogether. I suppose you wouldn't go even now?"

"He's much too ill to move. Besides---"

"Will you go when he's better, if I tell you something?"