You will see to the baking, Maria."

And indeed in the morning she was up at her usual hour, but when she
had made the batter for the pancakes pain overcame her, and she had
to lie down again. She stood for a minute beside the bed, with both
hands pressed against her back, and made certain that the daily
tasks would be attended to.

"You will give the men their food, Maria, and your father will lend
you a hand at milking the cows if you wish it. I am not good for
anything this morning."

"It will be all right, mother; it will be all right. Take it
quietly; we shall have no trouble."

For two days she kept her bed, with a watchful eye over everything,
directing all the household affairs.

"Don't be in the least anxious," her husband urged again and again.
"There is hardly anything to be done in the house beyond the
cooking, and Maria is quite fit to look after that--everything else
too, by thunder! She is not a little child any longer, and is as
capable as yourself. Lie there quietly, without stirring; and be
easy in your mind, instead of tossing about all the time under the
blankets and making yourself worse...."

On the third day she gave up thinking about the cares of the house
and began to bemoan herself.

"Oh my God!" she wailed. "I have pains all over my body, and my