The day came, the terrible expense began, and Minnie’s child entered the
world. It must be admitted that Minnie behaved very badly. She was never
good at enduring pain, and she was moreover in terror of dying.
Altogether a bad time, for her, for the doctor, for the nurse, and for
poor Lionel.
But once the child was born, her fierce maternal passion flamed into
life. She would have died to defend her baby. She nearly destroyed it
with indulgence. That was her manner of loving.
And she believed that the fact of having this child constituted a claim
upon all the world. That whatever she did for its sake was fully
justified. Because she loved it, she was licensed to take what she could
for it, by any and all means to secure advantages for it. A sort of
divine license given only to mothers, so that they could do no wrong; an
unlimited indulgence. Be assured that she took advantage of it!