ed around with a thousand
devils; turn where she would there was no help and but little hope. She
had come to understand herself enough to know that with sufficient
provocation she would almost certainly do it again. The girl thought of
her father. The deed was so like things that she had seen him do that she
almost tore her hair as she prayed to be spared such a soul-destroying
fate.

It was Jack's future estimates of her that caused her so much distress.
The things emphasized by the mother in a home, she knew, were the things
emphasized in the lives of her children. She had only to look at Jack's
father to see the evidences of that truth. Mrs. Hunter's cleanliness and
order, her tendency to over-emphasize details, were her son's strongest
watchwords. It was absolutely imperative that she do the right thing by
Jack. As she pondered she decided that she would rise up and make one more
effort for the child. Then, like a creeping serpent, the thought of her
attitude toward the child of her body suddenly presented its forked tongue
and demanded that its future be reckoned with. From what principle was she
dealing with it? Elizabeth knelt before the shrine of that child, not in
joy and adoration, but with a fear which had almost become a hatred.

Elizabeth did not realize that it was the work and worry which she had
gone through in these last weeks which made her irritable. She did not
recognize the difference between nerves and temper, but she had come to
understand that the unborn child was draining her strength. The prayer in
her heart as she lay there thinking it out was for help to adjust her life
to the conditions which she must meet, for strength to control herself,
and for the power to so order her mental attitude toward this new child
that she might be able to love it as it certainly deserved to be loved.
But even as she prayed a horrible thought took possession of her:

"If only it would die and be prematurely released, as Doctor Morgan had
said there was danger of it doing!"

It was then that Elizabeth Hunter realized the possibilities in herself.
That was murder! If John complicated her work throughout eternity it would
not warrant such an attitude. But this second child! It was the absorbing
topic of her thoughts as she vainly tried to rest. She was so worn out
that she could face no more work than she already had to do, and ever as
she thought this serpent of temptation thrust its head out at her and
said: