And then what?
What of sickness, and the other contingencies which still lay ahead of her?
How old her father seemed, these days! In his heavy shock of hair the flecks of white had doubled in size, were merging one into the other, and his tall, stooping, massive frame had lost its look of ruggedness.

Suppose, suppose....

Her breath came fast.

Was his life insured, she wondered.
On such afternoons, in the upstairs room as the dusk crept in and deepened, she would bend close to her sewing--planning, planning, planning.
At last she would hear the children trooping merrily into the house.

And making a very real effort, which at times was in truth heroic, to smile, she would rise and light the gas, would welcome them gaily and join in their chatter and bustle about on the countless tasks of washing them, getting their suppers, undressing the small ones and hearing their prayers.
With smiling good-night kisses she would tuck her two babies into their cribs.