e
torment of her mind was awful; should she try his remedy? She went to
the sideboard and poured herself out some whisky, but even as she
raised it to her lips she felt it unworthy to have recourse to it, and
put the glass down untouched.

After that she went and leant against the window-frame. It was about
midnight, and very few people passed. Whenever a man appeared in the
distance, she had a moment of hope, but only to be followed by the
sickening sensation of another disappointment. The mental anguish was so
great that for some time she paid no attention to physical symptoms
which had now begun. By degrees, however, these became importunate, and
oh the relief of it! The trouble of her mind ceased when the physical
pain became acute, and therefore she welcomed it as a pleasant
distraction. She was obliged to think and be practical too; there was no
one in the house to help her. The sleeping children were of course out
of the question, and the two young servants, maid-of-all-work and
nurse, nearly as much so. Besides, there was the difficulty of calling
them. She felt she must not disturb Jane who was in the nursery, for
fear of rousing the children; but should she ever get to Bridget's room,
which was further off? Step by step she climbed the stairs, clinging to
the banister with one hand, holding the candle in the other. Several
times she sank down and waited silently, but with contracted face, till
a paroxysm had passed. At last she reached the door. Bridget was awake
and had heard her coming. "Holy Mother!" she exclaimed, startled out of
her habitual sullenness by her mistress's agonised face. "Yer ill,
ma'am! Let me help you to your bed!"

"Fetch the doctor and the nurse, Bridget," Mrs. Caldwell was just able
to gasp.

In the urgency and excitement of the moment, there was a truce to
hostilities. Bridget jumped up, in night-dress and bare feet, and
supported her mistress to her room. There she was obliged to leave her
alone; and so it happened that, just as the grey dawn trembled with
the first flush of a new and brighter day, the child arrived
unassisted and without welcome, and sent up a wail of protest. When
the doctor came at last, and had time to attend to her, he pronounced
her to be a fine child, and declared that she had made a good
beginning, and would do well for herself, which words the nurse
declared to be of happy omen. Her father was not fit to appear until
late in the day. He came in humbly, fi