When at last she crept softly in beside her sleeping husband, it was
with the determination that she would not be put aside in the way Hugh
had put her—that she was going to have one great big say as to how that
not-yet-earned money was going to be spent. And none of her plans
included any farms or ministering angels. Restlessly she turned from
side to side, unable to sleep. She was filled with smoldering
indignation. Surely she was right about Hugh treating her unfairly.
Wasn’t it his duty to live where she would be happiest, if he could
afford it? Was it right for him to want to please himself only? And
besides—all that talk about the children. Surely she, their mother,
should know what was best for them. With her last troubled waking
thought a determination to let Hugh understand exactly how she stood in
the matter before he left for New York, she dropped into an uneasy
slumber.
A dream came. She was walking through a narrow path in a beautiful
garden. On each side of her were rows of magnificent roses. She gathered
them as she walked along. Repeatedly a voice whispered to her to turn
back, but she ignored the warning, and went on her way blithely. As she
reached a bend in the path and was about to turn into it Hugh suddenly
appeared before her. He, too, implored her to relinquish her roses and
return from whence she came. She eyed him haughtily from head to foot,
and disdainfully brushing aside his detaining hand, went forward. Then
it was that the ground gave way under her, and she found herself
slipping downward—downward, with startling rapidity. The weight of the
roses in her arms became unbearable. It was impossible to free herself
from their overwhelming odor of sickening sweetness; she was submerged
beneath them. In desperation she commanded her last ounce of strength
and screamed aloud for Hugh to save her.
She awoke to find him bending solicitously over her.
“What is it, honey?” he asked gently. “That nightmare must have been
dreadful—you screamed so you awakened us all.” Marjorie sat up in bed
dazedly, rubbing her eyes. Through the open door she saw Elinor and
Howard peeking at her through the bars of their cribs. “Did I scream?”
she asked wonderingly. “How silly—I did have a dreadful dream, but,”
she sat up wide awake, “what time is it?”
“Half past six.”
“Already?” She yawned a bit, but strangely was not sleepy. Sudden memory
of her determination came to her. “Well, then, I’m going to get up and
dress the babies as long as I scared them out of their sleep. I’ll start
them with their breakfast, then I want to have a talk with you, Hugh.”
Hugh groaned with mock seriousness.
“Can’t a fellow even go to the big town to make a million dollars
without having to carry a lot of samples to match or have to bring home
an aluminum pan or something?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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