But now she had to reckon with Gladys's mother, who had recovered her equilibrium, lost for a second by her daughter's manoeuvre.

She seized in her turn the handle of the baby-carriage, and gave Maria a strong push aside.
Then she looked at all three combatants, like a poor-white Solomon.
"Who were sent out with him in the first place, that's what I want to know ?" she said.
"I were," replied Josephine in a sobbing shout.

Her head was aching as if she had been scalped.
"Shet up!" said Gladys's mother inconsistently.
"Did your ma send her out with him ?" she queried of her.
"He is not a boy," replied Maria shiftily.
"Yes, she did," said Josephine, still rubbing her head.
Gladys, through a wholesome fear of her mother, had released her hold on her braids, and stood a little behind.
Mrs.Mann's scanty rough hair blew in the winter wind as she took hold of the carriage.

Maria again tucked in the white fur robe to conceal her discomfiture.

She was becoming aware that she was being proved in the wrong.
"Shet up!" said Mrs.Mann in response to Josephine's answer.