YES, the eighth baby arrived a fortnight ago,” said Miss Cornelia, from a rocker before the fire of the little house one chilly October afternoon. “It’s a girl. Fred was ranting mad—said he wanted a boy—when the truth is he didn’t want it at all. If it had been a boy he’d have ranted because it wasn’t a girl. They had four girls and three boys before, so I can’t see that it made much difference what this one was, but of course he’d have to be cantankerous, just like a man. The baby is real pretty, dressed up in its nice little clothes. It has black eyes and the dearest, tiny hands.”
“I must go and see it. I just love babies,” said Anne, smiling to herself over a thought too dear and sacred to be put into words.
“I don’t say but what they’re nice,” admitted Miss Cornelia. “But some folks seem to have more than they really need, believe me. My poor cousin Flora up at the Glen had eleven, and such a slave as she is! Her husband suicided three years ago. Just like a man!”
103
