if I don't have to hear it. Don't ever come to me again with anything that
anybody says. Now, then, tell me about yourself. I half believe you're
glad of it."

"Glad?" Sadie told her secret, which could be a secret no more. Luther had
wanted the child, and she had come to the point of wanting it for his
sake, and the sight of chubby Jack Hunter had aroused the latent mother
love in her till, as she talked, her eyes shone with the brightness of
imaginative maternity. She implored Elizabeth to come to her aid when the
day of her labour arrived in September, and rambled along telling of their
preparations for its coming, and little home incidents, disclosing a home
life of so sweet a character that if Elizabeth Hunter had not been sincere
and utterly without jealousy she would have drawn the discussion to a
close.

The incident had a peculiar effect upon Elizabeth. She began really to
like Sadie, and all her old desire for harmony in the home welled up in
her anew. The old attitude of self-blame was assumed also. Here was Sadie
Crane, the most spiteful girl that had ever been raised on these prairies,
able to command the love and respect of the man she had married, to do
things because her husband desired them, even so difficult a thing as the
bearing of children, and she, Elizabeth, had failed to accomplish any of
these things. There was a renewed resolve to be more patient. Elizabeth
hated sulking, and the remembrance of the day when she had gone to sign
the mortgage and had been unable to respond to John's good-humoured
willingness to get abundant supplies because she saw the money going out
so fast was fixed in her mind with new significance. Here was Sadie doing
the things that her husband wished of her and obtaining not only his love
but her own self-respect, while she, Elizabeth, was able to command
neither. Instead of reasoning upon the differences between the two
husbands, Elizabeth reasoned on the differences between her own actions
and those of Sadie, and from the results of that reasoning entered upon a
period of self-denial and abject devotion to the man of her choice. John
Hunter accepted this new devotion with satisfied serenity, and, not being
obstructed in any of his little exactions, became more cheerful and
agreeable to live with. This added to Elizabeth's conviction that the
difficulty had been somewhat within herself. She ceased to ask for the
things which caused friction, and there was a season of c