"He’s got to get into the country," said Angelica. "That’s all there is
to it. I’d send him to one of these fresh-air places, only I know he’d
die without me. He’s got to have me. No one else would know his ways."
"Well, if Mr. Geraldine sends----”
"If! If! If he don’t, I’ll---- He’s got to, that’s all. I’ll give him
just one day more, and then----”
"Maybe he’s not there. Maybe he’s gone to the war."
"Not a chance! Well, if he’s not there, I’ll have to find him, and I
will."
There was no letter the next day.
"You got to telephone," said Angelica to her mother, "and find out if he
still lives there at Buena Vista. If he does, I’ll write once more."
Her mother came in late that afternoon.
"He’s there," she said. "Somebody--one of the servants, I dare say--came
to the telephone, and I just said, ‘Is Mr. Vincent Geraldine there?’ And
she said, ‘Who is it wants to speak to him?’ And I said, ‘I only wanted
to know was he at home.’ ‘Oh, yes!’ she says. ‘He’s at home!’"
Poor woman, lugging her eternal bucket! She looked as if she were being
pressed down by giant hands which were forcing her exhausted and gallant
body to its knees. There was nothing ready for her now, at the end of
her bitter day--nothing in the house which she could cook for supper.
Her bed was still unmade, there wasn’t even a decent place for her to
sit down, for Angelica occupied the only rocking-chair, drawn up close
to the window, where the baby could get what air there was.
Mrs. Kennedy looked at them, and for an instant she hated them
both--Angelica who so savagely demanded this unceasing, inhuman toil of
her, who took everything and gave nothing, not so much as a loving word,
and this wailing, wretched little creature who didn’t even know her.
"It’s _too much_!" she thought. "I’m getting old."
"Take the baby," said Angelica, "while I write another letter."
"I’ll get some supper first."
"No! I’ve got to write now."
"Then put the kettle on, so’s we can have a cup of tea before long,"
said her mother, and sat down with the wretched, hot little baby in her
arms.