Page:Gissing - The Nether World, vol. I, 1889.djvu/51

 if it 'ud be a good thing, don't it, Sidney? I know you don't want her to go, but what's to be done? What is to be done?"

Her wailing voice caused the baby to wail likewise. Kirkwood looked about the room with face set in anxious discontent.

"Is it no use, Mrs. Hewett?" he exclaimed suddenly, turning to her. "Does she mean it? Won't she ever listen to me?"

The woman shook her head miserably; her eyes filled with tears.

"I've done all I could," she replied, half sobbing. "I have; you know I have, Sidney! She's that 'eadstrong, it seems as if she wouldn't listen to nobody—at least nobody as we knows anything about."

"What do you mean by that?" he inquired abruptly. "Do you think there's any one else?"

"How can I tell? I've got no reason for thinkin' it, but how can I tell? No, I believe it's nothin' but her self-will an' the fancies she's got into her 'ead. Both her an' Bob, there's no doin' nothin' with them.