She came: black-haired, sullen-faced Eva, with a vulgar beauty of her
own, much damaged by bad temper, discontent, and illness. Oh, those
terrible weeks for Letty, hiding her own misery, putting on a brave
face with the neighbors, keeping the unwelcome sister-in-law in the
background.

It was bitterly cold, and Eva raged against the climate, the house,
the lack of a servant, the absence of gayety, and above all at the
prospect of motherhood. Her resentment against David, for some reason
unknown to Letty, was deep and profound and she made no secret of it;
until the outraged Letty, goaded into speech one day, said: "Listen,
Eva! David brought you here because his sister's house was the proper
place for you just now. I don't know why you married each other, but
you did, and it's evidently a failure. I'm going to stand by David and
see you through this trouble, but while you're under my roof you'll
have to speak respectfully of my brother; not so much because he's my
brother, but because he's your husband and the father of the child
that's coming:--do you understand?"

Letty had a good deal of red in her bronze hair and her brown eyes
were as capable of flashing fire as Eva's black ones; so the girl not
only refrained from venting her spleen upon the absent David, but
ceased to talk altogether, and the gloom in the house was as black as
if Mrs. Popham and all her despondent ancestors were living under its
roof.

The good doctor called often and did his best, shrugging his shoulders
and lifting his eyebrows as he said: "Let her work out her own
salvation. I doubt if she can, but we'll give her the chance. If the