Ida was removing the child's outer garments, smiling as ever, and with seeming gentleness, but Maria had a conviction that her touch on the tender flesh of the child was as the touch of steel.

Little Evelyn struggled to get to her sister when she saw her, but Ida held her firmly.
"Stand still, darling," she said.

It was inconceivable how she could say darling without the loving inflection which alone gave the word its full meaning.
"Stand still and let mamma take off baby's things," said Harry, and there was no lack of affectionate cadences in his voice.

He privately thought that he himself could have taken off the child's wraps better than his wife, but he recognized her rights in the matter.

Harry remembering his first wife, with her child, was in a state of constant bewilderment at the sight of his second with hers.