he could wait until he brought a baby without urging or
request. She was very busy. Her lady mit the from-gold hair was
ill--very ill, indeed. She lay upon her bed very white and quiet, and
the First Floor Front took care of her. There was also occasionally a
doctor, and there were always the garrulous, if not over-helpful
neighbors. In any other case it is possible that Mrs. Moriarty's known
generosity and surmised skill would have been called into requisition,
but the lady mit the from-gold hair spoke no English, and Esther
entreated that Mrs. Moriarty should not be consulted, as that would mean
her own instant banishment to the lonely drawing-room. And so Mrs.
Moriarty was allowed to form her own explanation for Esther's long
absences, while Esther, light of hand and step, served her golden-haired
lady friend.

Mrs. Moriarty's natural supposition had been that Esther was with the
baby so carelessly turned over to the Einsteins; and occasionally, of
course, she did visit that official error. But as its novelty diminished
and its lung power increased Esther became reconciled to the mistake.

"He cried, awful," Rebecca would explain, "und we didn't really need
him. We had lots. The old baby ain't yet so big. She couldn't to stand
even. Und she needs all her clothes. My poor mamma has it pretty hard."

"Ain't it funny?" mused Esther, all unconscious that she was grappling
with a world problem. "Ain't it funny, Becky? You got too many families,
und so you gets some more. I ain't got no families, und I loses mine
auntie. Ain't it fierce?"

"It sure is fierce," her friend admitted through the howls of the
youngest Einstein. "But don't you care, Esther. I guess, maybe, that
Stork will get round to your order soon. _One_ baby," she spoke from
experience and with conviction, "is lots of family."

"I don't know do I needs that kind from baby what you got," Esther
objected. "It's an awful loud baby, ain't it?"

"It is," Rebecca admitted. And any one of the fifteen Einsteins or even
any neighbor to the fourth or fifth house removed would have
corroborated her.

"Und it's got black hair," Esther further objected.

"They all do when they ain't redheaded," retorted the now ruffled
Rebecca. "Ain't you got nothin' to do on'y knockin' other people's
babies? First off you says he's yours, und now you says he's too loud
und too black. Well, he ain't too loud or too black fer me. You wait
till your own baby comes. Maybe you'll ge