The Romance of a Christmas Card | Page 9

to her, and she sat by the
kitchen stove trying to plan a second bottle, a second cradle, and see
how far the expected baby could divide its modest outfit with the
unexpected one, she burst into a fit of hysterical laughter mingled with
an outpour of tears.
The doctor came in from the sick-room puzzled and crestfallen from his
interview with an entirely new specimen of woman-kind. He had
brought Letty and David into the world and soothed the last days of all
her family, and now in this tragedy--for tragedy it was--he was her only

confidant and adviser.
Letty looked at him, the tears streaming from her eyes.
"Oh, Doctor Lee, Doctor Lee! If an overruling Providence could smile,
wouldn't He smile now? David and Eva never wanted to marry each
other, I'm sure of it, and the last thing they desired was a child. Now
there are two of them. Their father is away, their mother won't look at
them! What will become of me until Eva gets well and behaves like a
human being? I never promised to be an aunt to twins; I never did like
twins; I think they're downright vulgar!"
"Waly waly! bairns are bonny: One's enough and twa's ower mony,"
quoted the doctor. "It's worse even than you think, my poor Letty, for
the girl can't get well, because she won't! She has gritted her teeth,
turned her face to the wall, and refused her food. It's the beginning of
the end. You are far likelier to be a foster mother than an aunt!"
Letty's face changed and softened and her color rose. She leaned over
the two pink, crumpled creatures, still twitching nervously with the
amazement and discomfort of being alive.
[Illustration: "COME TO YOUR AUNT LETTY THEN AND BE
MOTHERED!" SHE SOBBED]
"Come to your Aunt Letty then and be mothered!" she sobbed, lifting
the pillow and taking it, with its double burden, into her arms. "You
shan't suffer, poor innocent darlings, even if those who brought you
into the world turn away from you! Come to your Aunt Letty and be
mothered!"
"That's right, that's right," said the doctor over a lump in his throat.
"We mustn't let the babies pay the penalty of their parents' sins; and
there's one thing that may soften your anger a little, Letty: Eva's not
right; she's not quite responsible. There are cases where motherhood,
that should be a joy, brings nothing but mental torture and perversion
of instinct. Try and remember that, if it helps you any. I'll drop in every

two or three hours and I'll write David to come at once. He must take
his share of the burden."
Well, David came, but Eva was in her coffin. He was grave and silent,
and it could not be said that he showed a trace of fatherly pride. He was
very young, it is true, thoroughly ashamed of himself, very unhappy,
and anxious about his new cares; but Letty could not help thinking that
he regarded the twins as a sort of personal insult,--perhaps not on their
own part, nor on Eva's, but as an accident that might have been
prevented by a competent Providence. At any rate, he carried himself as
a man with a grievance, and when he looked at his offspring, which
was seldom, it seemed to Letty that he regarded the second one as an
unnecessary intruder and cherished a secret resentment at its audacity
in coming to this planet uninvited. He went back to his work in Boston
without its having crossed his mind that anybody but his sister could
take care of his children. He didn't really regard them as children or
human beings; it takes a woman's vision to make that sort of leap into
the future. Until a new-born baby can show some personal beauty,
evince some intellect, stop squirming and squealing, and exhibit
enough self-control to let people sleep at night, it is not, as a rule,
persona grata to any one but its mother.
David did say vaguely to Letty when he was leaving, that he hoped
"they would be good," the screams that rent the air at the precise
moment of farewell rather giving the lie to his hopes.
Letty was struggling to end the interview without breaking down, for
she was worn out nervously as well as physically, and thought if she
could only be alone with her problems and her cares she would rather
write to David than tell him her mind face to face.
Brother and sister held each other tightly for a moment, kissed each
other good-bye, and then Letty watched Osh Popham's sleigh slipping
off with David into the snowy distance, the merry tinkle of the bells
adding to the sadness in her dreary heart. Dick gone