bb.
To eke it out a little longer they resolved to part with their darling
Dings, and took that small person to one of the public _creches_ that
abounded in the city. That was the common use of the time. The
industrial emancipation of women, the correlated disorganisation of the
secluded "home," had rendered _creches_ a necessity for all but very
rich and exceptionally-minded people. Therein children encountered
hygienic and educational advantages impossible without such
organisation. _Creches_ were of all classes and types of luxury, down to
those of the Labour Company, where children were taken on credit, to be
redeemed in labour as they grew up.

But both Denton and Elizabeth being, as I have explained, strange
old-fashioned young people, full of nineteenth-century ideas, hated
these convenient _creches_ exceedingly and at last took their little
daughter to one with extreme reluctance. They were received by a
motherly person in a uniform who was very brisk and prompt in her manner
until Elizabeth wept at the mention of parting from her child. The
motherly person, after a brief astonishment at this unusual emotion,
changed suddenly into a creature of hope and comfort, and so won
Elizabeth's gratitude for life. They were conducted into a vast room
presided over by several nurses and with hundreds of two-year-old girls
grouped about the toy-covered floor. This was the Two-year-old Room.
Two nurses came forward, and Elizabeth watched their bearing towards
Dings with jealous eyes. They were kind--it was clear they felt kind,
and yet ...

Presently it was time to go. By that time Dings was happily established
in a corner, sitting on the floor with her arms filled, and herself,
indeed, for the most part hidden by an unaccustomed wealth of toys. She
seemed careless of all human relationships as her parents receded.

They were forbidden to upset her by saying good-bye.

At the door Elizabeth glanced back for the last time, and behold! Dings
had dropped her new wealth and was standing with a dubious face.
Suddenly Elizabeth gasped, and the motherly nurse pushed her forward and
closed the door.

"You can come again soon, dear," she said, with unexpected tenderness in
her eyes. For a moment Elizabeth stared at her with a blank face. "You
can come again soon," repeated the nurse. Then with a swift transition
Elizabeth was weeping in the nurse's arms. So it was that Denton's heart
was won also.

And three weeks after our y