Page:Bad Girl (1929).pdf/156

 Dot shook her head. "I haven't had anything," she gasped.

Mrs. Cudahy's mouth expressed her suspicions. Her eyes traveled over Dot's figure.

"You're the married one, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes. I'm going to have a baby."

"Poor child."

Dot's eyes, momentarily red and watery, turned on her. "Why 'poor child'?" she asked.

"Oh, you're so young and tiny. Come, lie down for a while."

Dot permitted herself to be led into one of the bedrooms. Mrs. Cudahy put a cover over her and sat down beside her.

"When's the baby coming?"

"Not till July."

"Oh, well, don't mind being sick. It'll be over soon, and then you'll be fine. You'll eat like an ox and get to be a big strapping girl."

"My doctor is going to put me on a diet."

It was too dark to see Mrs. Cudahy's expression when she said: "That's a lot of tomfoolery. I ate everything I wanted and had a regular baby to show for it. Sue weighed twelve pounds and was the envy of every woman on the street."

Dot shuddered. "Didn't it hurt terribly to have a baby that big?"

Mrs. Cudahy appeared to be thinking it over. "Well," she said after a time, "did you ever have a bad cramp?"

"Yes."

"It's like that."

"Sounds easy," said Dot.

"Well, it ain't like having your nails manicured, but I hope Sue will have one; so you see it can't be so bad, or I wouldn't be wishing it on her."