"Now don't _but_ me, Mr. Thornton, 'cause I'm goin' to _talk_. I ain't used my voice much sence I been here, and it's gettin' tired o' doin' nothin', jest like I am. Now I've done everything you told me to. I've made visits I didn't like, I've talked with women who come here who didn't like me, and I've tried hard to live up to this house and be a lady and do nothin', and have nothin' to look after and no one to do for and worry about, and nothin' to think of; and I'm tired of it. I've done somethin' all my life, and took care of some one. I nussed my mother for most forty years, then I took care of the sick in all our county, and I looked after the old ladies in the home who wasn't able to look after themselves and now I can't jest _set_. I'm too old to learn new ways, and I got to have something or some one to do for, and the good Lord knowed I was gettin' restless and sent this here baby. Now--no, wait a minute--I ain't through yet," as Mr. Thornton tried to interrupt her. "I'm goin' to have my say, then your turn'll come, though it won't do you much good, as my mind is made up, and when a woman's mind is made up it's jest as foolish to try to change it as it is to try to set a hen before she begins to cluck." She stopped a moment and looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms. "I ain't a-thinkin' of myself alone and jest how good it'll be for me, but I'm a-thinkin' of the baby and I want to give him a chance like other babies." "But," said Mr. Thornton, "it's quite impossible! A home for such as he is the proper place for him." "Don't say that word _home_ to me. Mr. Thornton, I hate the word. I've et charity bread and it's bitter, and charity milk'd be the same." Mr. Thornton threw out his hands with an exasperated gesture. "But it is impossible, I tell you, quite impossible!" "Why impossible?" asked Drusilla. "Why, ain't the house big enough?" "But my late client, Mr. Elias Doane--" "Have you forgot the letter he wrote me: 'Spend the money your own way, Drusilla.'" "But he certainly did not mean--" "How do you know what he meant? He said spend it, and I ain't spent nothin' yet except on some foolish clothes. First thing I know I might die, then it wouldn't be spent, and I know I'd pass my days worryin' St. Peter to find out what had become of it." Mr. Thornton threw up his hands again. "Well, I don't know what to say more than I have said," he declared. "Have you decided on its disposition?" Drusilla, seeing that the lawyer was surrendering, said quite meekly: "I ain't figured out what is to be done jest now--" Here Daphne came to her rescue. "Why don't you give him to the gardener's wife until you find out what to do?" Drusilla reached over and patted Daphne's hand. "Daphne, there's some sense under them curls. Your father ought to take you in business with him. That's what we'll do. She has four already, but there's always room in a house where there's babies for one more. Send for her."