Page:Neith Boyce--The bond.djvu/156

154 "The jaws of death—the jaws of death—I'm all ground and chewed to atoms, Basil. I feel as if I had died"

He could say nothing. The baby, about which he had not thought at all, began to cry. The nurse was bathing it, and she held it out for Basil to see—a red, angry creature, with bristles of black hair and pale-blue eyes. It shrieked lustily with wide-open mouth.

"Let me see him," said Teresa faintly.

The nurse brought the baby; and after one curious look of inspection, the young mother remarked:

"How very hideous he is. Take him away."

A week later Teresa confided to Basil, tearfully, that she did not like the baby, and that she was sure he was going to be a frightful nuisance and spoil their life together. She complained viciously, too, of her continued physical sufferings and weakness, and her disturbed nights. She had braced herself with all her strength for the great ordeal of giving birth; and the minor discomforts and annoyances which followed she resented as something not taken into the bargain.

Basil groaned, and buried his face in the pillow beside her. He had caught a fearful cold on the night of the baby's birth, and he had had no rest or peace since. His household was dis-