“Judith, I am going to tell her. I can’t go on feeling like a dirty sneak.”
“You--what, Eileen?” Laura asked, her hazel eyes opening in wonder.
“If you feel that it is right, dear. You know how it looks to you.”
“Then here goes! Mrs. Ramsay, you and your husband have been perfectly splendid to me--and I owe it to you, not to have you go on this way any longer. As far as your mother is concerned--she’s been a darling; but I’ve paid that with my violin. I don’t need to tell her. But I do need to tell you that I am not Mrs. Winthrop, and my husband didn’t drown in that Alaska steamship disaster. I am Eileen Trench--and I never had a husband....” She set her teeth hard, then went on heroically: “There won’t be any name for the baby that comes, the first of May.”
“Eileen, are you mad! Judith, what has come over the girl?”
“No. It’s just cold facts. I’m not twenty years. I’ll be seventeen, the last of March. Long before I was sixteen I was crazy mad in love with a man. It was mostly my fault--that he wasn’t the hero I made him out, I mean. We were engaged and we talked things over--things that aren’t safe for a girl and a man to talk about before they are married. I don’t need to tell you the rest.”
“Not exactly ... deserted. When we found out, he said at first that he would be loyal, and would marry me after he got through with college. To save my reputation, he wanted me to commit murder.”
“What did you say to him? How did you answer the cad?”
“I was going to kill myself, but Judith wouldn’t let me. She married Lary, so that they could take--”
Laura Ramsay’s usually placid face took on an expression of intense emotion. She rose to her feet and walked hurriedly to the window.
“If you are going to cut me off--well, that’s all the more reason why I had to tell you,” Eileen said, following her. “It’s what I have to expect.”
“But I don’t intend to cut you off, child. Judith, why couldn’t I do for her what I did in Nelka’s case? Especially if it turns out to be a little girl. Junior is wild for a sister--and it’s the only way I can hope to get one for him. And of course I’d be game, if it were another boy. Won’t you, Judith? I’m sure Griff would approve. Why--why, Eileen, what is the matter?”