"Yes, she's gone home."

"Glory be!" The color came back to Susan's face in a flood, and frank
delight chased the terror from her eyes. "Now we can do somethin'
worthwhile."

"I reckon you'll find you have to do something, Susan. You know very
well I can't afford to hire a nurse--now."

"I don't want one."

"But there's all the other work, too."

"Work! Why, Mr. Burton, I won't mind a little work if I can have that
blessed boy all to myself with no one to feed him oatmeal mush with a
spoon, an' snivel over him. You jest wait. The first elemental thing
is to learn him self-defiance, so he can do things for himself. Then
he'll begin to get his health an' strength for the operator."

"You're forgetting the money, Susan. It costs money for that."

Susan's face fell.

"Yes, sir, I know." She hesitated, then went on, her color deepening.
"An' I hain't sold--none o' them poems yet. But there's other
magazines, a whole lot of 'em, that I hain't tried. Somebody's sure to
take 'em some time."

"I'm glad your courage is still good, Susan; but I'm afraid the dear
public is going to appreciate your poems about the way it does--my