Page:Delight - de la Roche - 1926.djvu/52

 Quick steps were coming from the next room. Mrs. Bye pushed the door open, and looked round it at May. At the sight of her May laughed louder than ever. "Married, ain't yer?" she cried. "Are you sure you're married?"

Mrs. Bye shut the door and took her by the arm. "May, May," she said. "You'll have Mrs. Jessop in. Do quieten yourself."

"I tell her the others'll all be getting oop," said Delight. "I was just going to empty a mug of water on her."

May was calmed by the sight of Mrs. Bye. She sat down on the side of the bed and pressed back the damp hair from her forehead. "It's just a touch of hystrikes," she said. "I've 'ad them before, 'aven't I, Delight?"

Mrs. Bye brought her a mug of water and patted her back as she drank it. The motherly touch had a softening effect. May laid her head against Mrs. Bye and sobbed like a little child.

"If it's anything to do with a man, don't waste your tears now," said the cook. "Save them till you're married. You'll need them worse, then." She nodded her head wisely, looking almost like a girl with her ugly kitchen dress exchanged for a long blue wrapper over her nightgown and a little pigtail down her back.

Charley had come up to bed, and, hearing his wife's voice in the girls' bedroom, he gave the door a thump and said:

"Come along to bed, missus. D'ye want me to be losing my rest when you well know how early I must rise?"

"In a moment," answered Mrs. Bye.

"Is it some fellow that had promised her in the Old Land?" she asked of Delight. "Don't tell me if May had rather not. I don't want to pry, dear knows."

"Well, they were all but promised," answered Delight