Christian Science -- Fiction; People with disabilities -- Fiction
No one saw it at first. Then Gladys, looking up for encouragement,
glanced at Kate, and, as her eyes rested on the baby doll, with one
delighted mother-cry of "Baby, baby!" she started forward and fluttered
across the floor, light as any thistle-down, until she clasped the doll
in her arms, and Kate seized her little swaying body to keep her from
falling.
"See what Divine Love has wrought!" exclaimed Mrs. Goddard, in a voice
so filled with gratitude and a reverent exultation that it sounded like
a prayer.
There were tense exclamations, excited laughter which ended in sudden
tears, quivering smiles and murmurs of thanksgiving, until Carolina,
turning to Noel, said:
"Noel, I am sure that doll was your doing," when error again claimed
Kate for its own, for the look of gratitude Noel sent in return.
"Lord, but this Christian Science does make me t-tired," murmured Kate
to herself, as she released Gladys, and the two children, in a fever of
excitement, sat down on the floor to undress the doll. "F-first we go
up, up, up, and th-then we go down, down, down! J-just as surely as I
have an up feeling, I g-get it in the neck inside of the next thirty
seconds. A-at any rate, there’s no m-monotony about it. It k-keeps you
guessing where it will hit you n-next."
Kate unconsciously made such a wry face as she murmured these words
under her breath that Rosemary leaned over and whispered:
"What’s the matter, Kate?"
"I th-think I’ve got an attack of what you call Error, but it cramps me
most cruel. Or d-do you think I could have caught cholera infantum from
holding that d-doll baby?"
"Kate, you are so funny!" laughed Rosemary.
"I s-spend a good deal of v-valuable time amusing m-myself," said Kate.
"I sorta have to, in a way. Everybody else seems o-occupied."
As Kate made this indiscreet remark about error, Rosemary looked back at
the other groups in the room, and surprised Noel looking at Carolina
with an expression in his eyes he gave to no other, and again a spasm of
pain crossed Kate’s face. At once Rosemary understood, and Kate saw
that she did. Kate’s face flamed. She pushed Rosemary into the
window-seat, thrust her violently down, and pulled the thick crimson
curtains together, shutting them in.
"It’s n-not so!" she whispered, excitedly. "I know w-what you think,
b-but it’s not true. He loves C-Carolina, and in time, no doubt, she’ll
l-love him. I d-don’t see how she can help it. I d-don’t care."
"Oh, Kate, that is not true! I certainly hope Carolina will not fall in
love with him. He is not suited to her, she doesn’t want him, and he is
suited to you. You can’t deny it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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