"Well, I did. An'--why, Mis' McGuire, you hain't any inception of an
idea of what those men an' women an'--yes, children--did. Why, one of
'em wasn't only blind, but deaf an' dumb, too. She was a girl. An' now
she writes books an' gives lecturin's, an', oh, ev'rything."

"Maybe. I ain't sayin' they don't. But I guess somebody else has to do
a part of it. Look at Keith right here now. How are you goin' to take
care of him when he gets up an' begins to walk around? Why, he can't
see to walk or--or feed himself, or anything. Has the nurse gone?"

Susan shook her head. Her lips came together grimly.

"No. Goes next week, though. Land's sakes, but I hope that woman is
expulsive enough! Them entrained nurses always cost a lot, I guess.
But we've just had to have her while he was so sick. But she's goin'
next week."

"But what ARE you goin' to do? You can't tag him around all day an' do
your other work, too. Of course, there's his father--"

"His father! Good Heavens, woman, I wonder if you think I'd trust that
boy to his father?" demanded Susan indignantly. "Why, once let him get
his nose into that paint-box, an' he don't know anything--not
anything. Why, I wouldn't trust him with a baby rabbit--if I cared for
the rabbit. Besides, he don't like to be with Keith, nor see him, nor
think of him. He feels so bad."

"Humph! Well, if he does feel bad I don't think that's a very nice way
to show it. Not think of him, indeed! Well, I guess he'll find SOME
one has got to think of him now. But there! that's what you might