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023 - Billy and the Enormous Responsibility · Miss Billy Married

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three of Miss Billy Married. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information nor to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Phil Schinevert. Miss Billy Married by Eleanor H. Porter,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three, Billy and the Enormous Responsibility. When the
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  Speaker 1: doctor heard from the nurse of Missus Hartwell's visit and
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  Speaker 1: what had come of it, he only gave a discreet
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  Speaker 1: smile as befitted himself and the occasion. But to his
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  Speaker 1: wife privately that night, the doctor said, when he had
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  Speaker 1: finished telling the story, and I couldn't have prescribed a
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  Speaker 1: better pill if I'd tried pill Missus Hartwell. Oh, Harold,
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  Speaker 1: reproved the doctor's wife mildly, but the doctor only chuckled
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  Speaker 1: the more and said, you wait and see. If Billy's
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  Speaker 1: friends were worried before because of her lassitude and lack
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  Speaker 1: of ambition, they were almost as worried now over her
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  Speaker 1: amazing alertness and insistent activity. Day by day, almost hour
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  Speaker 1: by hour, she seemed to gain in strength, and every
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  Speaker 1: bit she acquired she promptly tested, almost to the breaking point,
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  Speaker 1: so plainly eager was she to be well and strong
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  Speaker 1: and always from morning until night, and again from night
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  Speaker 1: until morning. The pivot of her existence, around which swung
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  Speaker 1: all thoughts, words, actions, and plans, was the sturdy, little, plump, cheeked,
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  Speaker 1: firm flushed atom of humanity known as Bertram Junior. Even
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  Speaker 1: Aunt Hannah remonstrated with her at last, But Billy, dear,
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  Speaker 1: she exclaimed, one would almost get the idea that you
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  Speaker 1: thought there wasn't a thing in the world but that baby.
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  Speaker 1: Billy laughed. Well, do you know sometimes I most think
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  Speaker 1: there isn't, she retarded, unblushingly. Billy protested Aunt Hannah. Then
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  Speaker 1: a little severely, she demanded, and who was it that,
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  Speaker 1: just last September was calling this same only object in
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  Speaker 1: the world old a third person in your home? Third person? Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: Aunt Hannah, did I did I really say such a
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  Speaker 1: dreadful thing as that? But I didn't know then, of
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  Speaker 1: course I couldn't know how perfectly wonderful a baby is,
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  Speaker 1: especially such a baby as Bertram Junior is. Why, Aunt Hannah,
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  Speaker 1: that little thing knows a whole lot already. He's known
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  Speaker 1: me for weeks, I know he has, and ages and
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  Speaker 1: ages ago he began to give me little smiles when
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  Speaker 1: he saw me. They were smiles, real smiles. Oh, yes,
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  Speaker 1: I know, Nurse said they weren't smiles at first, admitted Billie,
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  Speaker 1: in answer to Aunt Hannah's doubting expression. I know, nurse
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  Speaker 1: said it was only wind on his stomach. Think of it,
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  Speaker 1: wind on his stomach, just as if I didn't know
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  Speaker 1: the difference between my own baby smile and wind on
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  Speaker 1: his stomach. And you don't know how soon he began
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  Speaker 1: to follow my moving finger with his eyes. Yes, I
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  Speaker 1: tried that one day, I remember, observed Aunt Hannah. Demurely,
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  Speaker 1: I moved my finger. He looked at the ceiling, fixed sedling. Well,
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  Speaker 1: probably he wanted to look at the ceiling. Then defended
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  Speaker 1: the young mother promptly, I'm sure I wouldn't give a
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  Speaker 1: snap for a baby if he didn't sometimes have a
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  Speaker 1: mind of his own and exercise it. Oh, Billy, Billy,
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  Speaker 1: laughed Aunt Hannah with a shake of her head. As
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  Speaker 1: Billy turned away, chin uplifted. By the time Bertram Junior
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  Speaker 1: was three months old, Billy was unmistakably her old, happy,
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  Speaker 1: merry self, strong and well. Affairs of the strata once
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  Speaker 1: more were moving as by clockwork, only this time it
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  Speaker 1: was a baby's hand that set the clock, and that
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  Speaker 1: wound it too. Billy told her husband very earnestly that
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  Speaker 1: now they had entered upon a period of enormous responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: The life, character and destiny of a human soul were
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  Speaker 1: entrusted to their care, and they must be wise, faithful,
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  Speaker 1: and efficient. They must be at once proud and humble
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  Speaker 1: at this their great opportunity. They must observe, learn, and
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  Speaker 1: practice first, and foremost in their eyes must always be
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  Speaker 1: this wonderful important trust. Bertram laughed at first very heartily
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  Speaker 1: at Billy's instructions, which he declared were so bristling with
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  Speaker 1: capitals that he could fairly see them drop from her lips. Then,
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  Speaker 1: when he found how really very much in earnest she was,
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  Speaker 1: and how hurt she was at his levity, he managed
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  Speaker 1: to pull his face into something like sobriety while she
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  Speaker 1: talked to him, though he did persist in dropping kisses
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  Speaker 1: on her cheeks, her chin, her finger tips, her hair,
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  Speaker 1: and the little pink lobes of her ears, just by
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  Speaker 1: way of punctuation to her sentences, he said, And he
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  Speaker 1: told her that he wasn't really slighting her lips, only
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  Speaker 1: that they moved so fast he could not catch them.
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  Speaker 1: Whereat Billy pouted and told him severely that he was
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  Speaker 1: a bad, naughty boy, and that he did not deserve
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  Speaker 1: to be the father of the dearest, most wonderful baby
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  Speaker 1: in the world. No, I know, I don't, beamed Bertram
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  Speaker 1: with cheerful unrepentance. But I am just the same, he
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  Speaker 1: finished triumphantly, and this time he contrived to find his
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  Speaker 1: wife's lips. Oh, Bertram, sighed Billy despairingly. You're an old dear,
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  Speaker 1: of course, and one just can't be cross with you.
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  Speaker 1: But you don't You just don't realize your immense responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: Oh yes, I do, maintained Bertram so seriously that even
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  Speaker 1: Billy herself almost believed him in spite of his assertations. However,
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  Speaker 1: it must be confessed that Bertram was much more inclined
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  Speaker 1: to regard the new member of his family as just
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  Speaker 1: his son rather than as an important trust. And there
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  Speaker 1: is little doubt that he liked to toss him in
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  Speaker 1: the air and hear his gleeful crow of delight without
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  Speaker 1: any bother of observing him at all. As to the
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  Speaker 1: life and character and destiny, entrusted to his care. It
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  Speaker 1: is to be feared that Bertram, just playing gloried in
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  Speaker 1: his son, poked him in the ribs and chucked him
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  Speaker 1: under the chin whenever he pleased, and gave never so
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  Speaker 1: much as a thought to character and destiny. It is
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  Speaker 1: to be feared, too, that he was proud without being humble,
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  Speaker 1: and that the only opportunity he really appreciated was the
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  Speaker 1: chance to show off his wife and baby to some
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  Speaker 1: less fortunate fellow man. But not so Billy. Billy joined
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  Speaker 1: a mother's club and entered a class in child training
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  Speaker 1: with an elaborate system of charts, rules and tests. She
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  Speaker 1: subscribed to each new mother's helper and the like that
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  Speaker 1: she came across, devouring each and every one with an
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  Speaker 1: eagerness that was tempered only by a vague uneasiness at
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  Speaker 1: finding so many differences of opinion among those who knew
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  Speaker 1: undeniably Billy, if not Bertram, was indeed realizing the enormous responsibility,
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  Speaker 1: and was keeping ever before her the important trust. In June,
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  Speaker 1: Bertram took a cottage at the South Shore, and by
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  Speaker 1: the time the really hot weather arrived, the family were
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  Speaker 1: well settled. It was only an hour away from Boston
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  Speaker 1: and easy of access. But William said he guessed he
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  Speaker 1: would not go. He would stay in Boston, sleeping at
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  Speaker 1: the house and getting his meals at the club until
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  Speaker 1: the middle of July when he was going down in
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  Speaker 1: Maine for his usual fishing trip, which he had planned
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  Speaker 1: to take a little earlier than usual this year. But
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  Speaker 1: you'll be so lonesome, uncle William, Billy demurred, in this
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  Speaker 1: great house, and all, oh, no, I shan't rejoined, Uncle William.
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  Speaker 1: I shall only be sleeping here, you know, He finished
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  Speaker 1: with a slightly peculiar smile. It was well perhaps that
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  Speaker 1: Billy did not exactly realize the significance of that smile,
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  Speaker 1: nor the unconscious emphasis on the word sleeping, for it
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  Speaker 1: would have troubled her not a little. William, to tell
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  Speaker 1: the truth, was quite anticipating that sleeping. William's knights had
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  Speaker 1: not been exactly RESTful since the baby came. His evenings, too,
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  Speaker 1: had not been the peaceful things they were wont to be.
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  Speaker 1: Some of Billy's rules and tests were strenuously objected to
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  Speaker 1: on the part of her small son, and the young
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  Speaker 1: man did not hesitate to show it. Billy said that
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  Speaker 1: it was good for the baby to cry that it
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  Speaker 1: developed his lungs, but William was very sure that it
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  Speaker 1: was not good for him. Certainly, when the baby did cry,
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  Speaker 1: William could never help hovering near the center of disturbance,
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  Speaker 1: and he always had to remind Billy that it might
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  Speaker 1: be a pin, you know, or some cruel thing that
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  Speaker 1: was hurting, as if he, William, a great strong man,
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  Speaker 1: could sit calmly by and smoke a pipe, or lie
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  Speaker 1: in his comfortable bed and sleep while that blessed little
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  Speaker 1: baby was crying his heart out like that, of course,
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  Speaker 1: if one did not know he was crying. Hence William's
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  Speaker 1: anticipation of those quiet, RESTful nights when he could not
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  Speaker 1: know it. Very soon after Billy's arrival at the cottage,
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  Speaker 1: Aunt Hannah and Alice Greggory came down for a day's visit.
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  Speaker 1: Aunt Hannah had been away from Boston for several weeks,
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  Speaker 1: so it was some time since she had seen the baby.
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  Speaker 1: My but hasn't he groaned, she exclaimed, picking the baby
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  Speaker 1: up and stooping to give him a snuggling kiss. The
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  Speaker 1: next instant she almost dropped the little fellow. So startling
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  Speaker 1: had been Billy's cry. No, no, wait, Aunt Hannah, please,
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  Speaker 1: Billy was entreating, hurrying to the little corner cupboard. In
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  Speaker 1: a moment, she was back with a small bottle and
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  Speaker 1: a bit of antiseptic cotton. We always sterilize our lips
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  Speaker 1: now before we kiss him. It's so much safer, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Aunt Hannah sat down limply, the baby still in her arms.
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  Speaker 1: Fiddle de deed, Billy, what an absurd idea? What have
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  Speaker 1: you got in that bottle? Why, Aunt Hannah, it's just
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  Speaker 1: a little simple listerine bridled Billy, And it isn't absurd
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  Speaker 1: at all. It's very sensible. My hygienic guide for mothers says, well,
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  Speaker 1: I suppose I may kiss his hand, interposed, Aunt Hannah,
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  Speaker 1: just a little curtly, without subjecting myself to a city
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  Speaker 1: hospital treatment. Billy laughed shamefacedly, but she still held her ground. No,
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  Speaker 1: you can't, nor even his foot. He might get them
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  Speaker 1: in his mouth, Aunt Hannah. Why does a baby think
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  Speaker 1: that everything from his own toes to his father's watch
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  Speaker 1: fob and the plush balls on a collar's wrist bag
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  Speaker 1: is made to eat? As if I could sterilize everything
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  Speaker 1: and keep him from getting hold of germs Somewhere, you'll
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  Speaker 1: have to have a germ proof room for him, laughed
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  Speaker 1: Alice Greggory, playfully snapping her fingers at the baby in
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  Speaker 1: Aunt Hannah's lap. Billy turned eagerly. Oh did you read
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  Speaker 1: about that too, she cried. I thought it was so
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  Speaker 1: interesting and I wondered if I could do it. Alice
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  Speaker 1: stared frankly, you don't mean to say they actually have
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  Speaker 1: such things, she challenged, Well, I read about them in
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  Speaker 1: a magazine, asserted Billy. How you could have a germ
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  Speaker 1: proof room? They said it was very simple to just
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  Speaker 1: pasteurize the air, you know, by heating it to one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and ten and one half degrees fahrenheit for seventeen
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  Speaker 1: and one half minutes. I remember just the figures. Simple. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: it sounds so scoffed Aunt Hannah with uplifted eyebrows. Oh
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  Speaker 1: well I couldn't do it, of course, admitted Billy regretfully.
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  Speaker 1: Bertram never stand for that in the world. He's always
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  Speaker 1: rushing in to show the baby off to every Tom,
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  Speaker 1: Dick and Harry and his wife that comes. And of
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  Speaker 1: course if you opened the nursery door, that would let
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  Speaker 1: in those germ things, and you couldn't very well pasteurize
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  Speaker 1: your colors by heeding them to one and ten and
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  Speaker 1: one half degrees for seventeen and one half minutes. I
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  Speaker 1: don't see how you can manage such a room anyway,
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  Speaker 1: unless you had a system of rooms like locks, same
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  Speaker 1: as they do for water and canals. Oh, my grief
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  Speaker 1: and conscience locks indeed, almost groaned Aunt Hannah. Here, Alice,
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  Speaker 1: will you please take this child, that is, if you
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  Speaker 1: have a germ proof certificate about you to show to
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  Speaker 1: his mother. I want to take off my bonnet and
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  Speaker 1: gloves take him, of course, I'll take you, laughed Alice,
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  Speaker 1: and right under his mother's nose too, she added, with
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  Speaker 1: a playful grimace at Billy. And we'll make patty cakes
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  Speaker 1: and send the little pigs to market, and have such
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful time that we'll forget there ever was such
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  Speaker 1: a thing in the world as an old germ a babykins.
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  Speaker 1: Babykins cooed its unqualified approval of this plan, but his
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  Speaker 1: mother looked troubled. That's all right, Alice. You may play
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  Speaker 1: with him, she frowned, doubtfully. But you mustn't do it long,
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  Speaker 1: you know, not over five minutes. Five minutes. Well, I
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  Speaker 1: like that when I've come all the way from Boston
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  Speaker 1: purposely to see him, pouted Alice, what's the matter now,
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  Speaker 1: time for his nap? Oh no, not for thirteen minutes,
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  Speaker 1: replied Billy, consulting the watch at her belt. But we
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  Speaker 1: never play with baby more than five minutes at a time.
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  Speaker 1: My scientific care of infants says it isn't wise that
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  Speaker 1: with some babies it's positively dangerous until after they're six
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  Speaker 1: months old. It makes them nervous and forces their mind,
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  Speaker 1: you know, she explained anxiously. So of course we'd want
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  Speaker 1: to be careful. Bertram Junior isn't quite four yet. Why yes,
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  Speaker 1: of course, murmured Alice, politely, stopping a padder cake before
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  Speaker 1: it was half baked. The infant, as if suspecting that
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  Speaker 1: he was being deprived of his lawful baby rights, began
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  Speaker 1: to fret and whimper. Poor itty sing, crooned aunt Hannah, who,
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  Speaker 1: having divested herself of bonnet and gloves, came hurriedly forward
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  Speaker 1: with outstretched hands. Do they just booze em come here
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  Speaker 1: to you, oh Auntie Sweethams, and we'll go walkie. I
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  Speaker 1: saw a bow wow, such a tune in ikey wiki
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  Speaker 1: bow wow on the steps when I came in. Come
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  Speaker 1: we go see ikey wiki. Bow wow, Aunt Hannah, please,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: protested Billy, both hands up raised in horror. Won't you
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: say dog and leave out that dreadful ikey wiki. Of
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  Speaker 1: course he can't understand things now, really, but we never
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  Speaker 1: know when he'll begin to, and we aren't ever going
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  Speaker 1: to let him hear baby talk at all if we
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  Speaker 1: can help it. And truly, when you come to think
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  Speaker 1: of it, it is absurd to expect a child to
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  Speaker 1: talk sensibly and rationally on the mental dight of moo
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: moos and chew choos served out to them. Our professor
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: of metaphysics and ideology in our Child's Study course says
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: that nothing is so receptive and plastic as the mind
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  Speaker 1: of a little child, and that it is perfectly appalling
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  Speaker 1: how we fill it with trivial absurdities that happen even
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  Speaker 1: the virtue of being accurate. So that's why we're trying
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  Speaker 1: to be so careful with baby. You don't mind my speaking,
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  Speaker 1: I know, Aunt Hannah. Oh no, of course not, Billy
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: retorted Aunt Hannah, a little tartly and with a touch
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  Speaker 1: of sarcasm, most unlike her gentle self. I'm sure I
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't wish to fill this infant's plastic mind with anything
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  Speaker 1: so appalling as trivial inaccuracies. May I be pardoned for suggesting? However,
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  Speaker 1: she went on, as the baby's whimper threatened to become
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  Speaker 1: a lusty wail. That this young gentleman cries as if
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  Speaker 1: he were sleepy and hungry. Yes he is, admitted Billy. Well,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: doesn't your system of scientific training allow him to be
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: given such trivial absurdities as food and naps? Inquired the
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: lady mildly. Of course it does, Aunt Hannah, retarded Billy,
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  Speaker 1: laughing in spider herself. And it's almost time now. There
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: are only a few more minutes to wait, few more
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: minutes to wait. Indeed, scorned Aunt Hannah, I suppose the
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: poor little fellow might cry and cry, and you wouldn't
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: set that clock ahead by a teeny weeny minute. Certainly not,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: said the young mother derisively. My Daily Guide for mothers
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: says that a time for everything, and everything in its
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: time is the very A, B, C, and whole alphabet
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  Speaker 1: of right training. He does everything by the clock and
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  Speaker 1: to the minute, declared Billy proudly. Aunt Hannah sniffed obviously
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  Speaker 1: skeptical and rebellious. Alice Gregory laughed. Aunt Hannah looks as
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: if she liked to bring down her clock that strikes
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: half an hour ahead, she said, mischievously. But Aunt Hannah
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: did not deign to answer this. How long do you
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: rock him? She demanded of Billy. I suppose I may
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: do that, mayn't I? Mercy, I don't rock him at up,
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  Speaker 1: aunt Hannah exclaimed, Billy, nor sing to him, certainly not.
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  Speaker 1: But you did before I went away. I remember that
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: you did. Yes, I know, I did, admitted Billy, and
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: I had an awful time too. Some evenings, every single
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: one of us, even to Uncle William, had to try
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: before we could get him off to sleep. But that
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: was before I got my efficiency of mother and child,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: or my scientific training, and oh lots of others. You see.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know a thing then, and I loved to
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: rock him, so I did it. Though the nurse said
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: it wasn't good for him, but I didn't believe her.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: I've had an awful time changing, but I've done it.
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  Speaker 1: I just put him in his little crib or his carriage,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: and after a while he goes to sleep. Sometimes now
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: he doesn't cry hardly any I'm afraid today though he will.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: She worried. Yes, I'm afraid he will, almost screamed Aunt Hannah,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: in order to make herself heard above Bertram Junior, who
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: by this time was voicing his opinion of matters and
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: things in no uncertain manner. It was not, after all,
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  Speaker 1: so very long before peace and order reigned, and in
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: new course Bertram Junior, in his carriage, lay fast asleep. Then,
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: while Aunt Hannah went to Billy's room for a short rest,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Billy and Alice went out to the wide verandah, which
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: faced the wonderful expanse of sky and sea. Now tell
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  Speaker 1: me of yourself, commanded Billy, almost at once. It's been
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: ages since I've heard or seen a thing of you.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: There's nothing to tell nonsense, but there must be, insisted, Billy.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: You know it's months since I've seen anything of you hardly.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: I know we feel quite neglected at the annex, said Alice.
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  Speaker 1: But I don't go anywhere defended, Billy. I can't. There
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: isn't time even to bring us the extra happiness, smiled Alice.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: A quick change came to Billy's face. Her eyes glowed deeply.
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  Speaker 1: No though I've had so much that ought to have gone,
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  Speaker 1: such loads and loads of extra happiness which I couldn't
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  Speaker 1: possibly use myself. Sometimes I'm so happy, Alice, that that
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: I'm just frightened. It doesn't seem as if anybody ought
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: to be so happy. Oh, Billy dear, demurred Alice, her
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: eyes filling suddenly with tears. Well, i've got the annex.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: I'm glad I've got that for the overflow anyway, resumed Billy,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: trying to steady her voice. I've sent a whole lot
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: of happiness up there mentally, if I haven't actually carried it,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: so I'm sure you must have got it. Now tell
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: me of yourself. There's nothing to tell, insisted Alice. As before,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: you're working as hard as ever, Yes, harder new pupils, yes,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: and some concert engagements good ones for next season accompaniments,
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: you know. Billy nodded, Yes, I've heard of you already
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: twice lately in that line, and very flatteringly too, have you. Well,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: that's good. Hm. There was a moment's silence, then abruptly
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: changed the subject. I had a letter from Belle Calderwell yesterday,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: she paused expectantly, but there was no comment. You don't
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: seem interested. She frowned. After a minute, Alice laughed, pardon me,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: but I don't know the lady. You see. Was it
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: a good letter, you know her brother? Very true? Alice's
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: cheeks showed a deeper color. Did she say anything of him? Yes,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: she said he was coming back to Boston next winter. Indeed, yes,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: she says that this time he declares he really is
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: going to settle down to work. Murmured Billy demurely. With
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: a sidelong glance at her companion, she says he's engaged
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: to be married one of her friends over there. There
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: was no reply. Alice appeared to be absorbed in watching
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: a tiny white sail far out at sea. Again, Billy
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: was silent. Then, with studied carelessness, she said, yes, and
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: you know mister Arkwright too, She told of him, yes, well,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: what of him? Alice's voice was steadily indifferent. Oh, there
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: was quite a lot of him. Bell had just been
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: to hear him sing, and then her brother had introduced
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: him to her. She thinks he's perfectly wonderful in every
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: way I should judge. In fact, she simply raved over him.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: It seems that while we've been hearing nothing from him
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: all winter. He's been winning no ends of laurels for
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: himself in Paris and Berlin. He's been studying too, of course,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: as well as singing, and now he's got a chance
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: to sing somewhere, create a roll or something. Belle said
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: she wasn't quite clear on the matter herself, but it
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: was a perfectly splendid chance, and one that was a
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: fine feather in his cap. Then he won't be coming home,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: that is, to Boston at all this winter, probably, said Alice,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: with a cheerfulness that sounded just a little forced. Not
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: until February. But he is coming. Then. He's been engaged
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: for six performances with the Boss and Opera Company as
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: a star tenor. Mind you, isn't that splendid? Indeed? It is?
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Murmured Alice. Bell writes that Hugh says he's improved wonderfully
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: and that even he can see that his singing is marvelous.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: He says Paris is wild over him. But for my part,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: I wish he'd come home and stay here where he belongs,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: finished Billy, a bit petulantly. Why why, Billy murmured her friend,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: a curiously startled look coming into her eyes. Well, I
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: do maintain, Billy. Then recklessly, she added, I had such
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: beautiful plans for him once, Alice, Oh, if you only
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: could have cared for him, you'd have made such a
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: splendid couple. A vivid scarlet flew to Alice's face. Nonsense,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: she cried, getting quickly to her feet and bending over
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: one of the flower boxes along the veranda, railing. Mister
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Arkwright never thought of marrying me, and I'm not going
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: to marry anybody but my music. Billy sighed despairingly. I
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: know that's what you say now, But if she stopped
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: abruptly around the turn of the veranda had appeared Aunt
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Hannah Wheelie Bertram Junior, still asleep in his carriage. I
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: came out the other door, she explained softly, and it
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: was so lovely. I just had to go in and
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: get the baby. I thought it would be so nice
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: for him to finish his nap out here. Billy arose
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: with a troubled frown. But Aunt Hannah, he mustn't. He
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: can't stay out here. I'm sorry, but we'll have to
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: take him back. Aunt Hannah's eyes grew muteness. But I
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: thought the outdoor air was just a thing for him.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: I'm sure your scientific hygienic nonsense says that they do.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: They did, that is, some of them do, acknowledged, Billy worriedly.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: But they differ so, and the one I'm going by
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: now says that baby should always sleep in an even
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: temperature seventy degrees if possible. And that's exactly what the
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: room in there was when I left him. It's not
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: the same out here, I'm sure. In fact, I looked
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: at the thermometer to see just before I came out myself. So,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Aunt Hannah, I'm afraid i'll have to take him back.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: But you used to have him asleep out of doors
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: all the time, on that little balcony out of your room,
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: argued Aunt Hannah, still plainly unconvinced. Yes, I know I did.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: I was following the other man's rules then, as I said,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: if only they wouldn't differ. So, of course I want
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: the best, but it's so hard to always know the best.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: And at this very inopportune moment, Master Bertram took occasion
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: to wake up, which brought even a deeper wrinkle of
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: worry to his fond mother's forehead, for she said that
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: according to the clock he should have been sleeping exactly
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: ten and one half more minutes, and that, of course
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: he couldn't commence the next thing until those ten and
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: one half minutes were up, or else his entire schedule
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: for the day would be shattered. So what should she
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: do with him? For those should have been sleeping ten
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: and a half she did not, no, all of which
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: drew from Aunt Hannah the astounding exclamation of oh my
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: grief and conscience, Billy, if you aren't the the limit,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: which indeed she must have been, to have brought circumspect
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: aunt Hannah to the point of actually using slang end
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: of Chapter twenty three