Evening star., 1927-04-24
THE NURSE HHHH gyes.A
By Ben Ames Williams

lcouraged Johnnie to rebel at her
authority.
One morning when she brought
Joan to the dining room, she had had
such a passage with the man that
she was in tears. When she came in,
Mr.. and Mrs. Jones and Johnnie were
at the table, and she burst out in ex-
plosive complaint, hating herself for
doing it, knowing the risk she ran,
vet unable to control her tongue
With tears streaming down her face,
she cried:
Mrs. Jones, l want you to tell
Johnnie that he isn't to talk back
TO me the way he does"
Mrs. Jones said quietly, "We1l dis
cuss that by and by, Millie,"
He won't do anything l tell him
to-" Millie insisted. And him and
Charles just laugh at me-"
Charles, coming in just then with
the coffee, was driven to self-defense.
"Johnnie's all right, Mrs. Jones'" he
said stoutly. She won't let him alone.
She don't understand boys. / can take
care Of Johnnie all right, If she'd leave
him alone"
Mrs. Jones said decisively, That
will do. Charles"
Yes, ma am" Charles agreed, and
left the room.
But Millie. unutterably exasperated,
cried again. "Johnnie's got to be made
to behave, ma'am.'
Mrs. Jones repeated, 'We1l discuss
that later. Millie"'
And Mile. though she was almost
beside herself with rage, felt the
menace in the others tone and left
| the room.
After her husband had gone. Mrs.
Jones summoned Millie and ssid to
her steadily
You are not to do such a thing
| again, Millie. / don't want Mr. Jones
| bothered by anything that goes on at
| home. If you have anything to say
to me, wait until he has gone and
come TO me quietly"
| Millie cried, well, l can't stand
the way Johnnie treats me-"
| Hereafter" Mrs. Jones told her
you need have no contact with
Johnnie. except to keep his room in
order. Charles viii take care of him.
l am sure you will get along all right,
IL YOU avoid trouble with Johnnie, or
| with Charles"
II can't stand it." NIillie cried.
'If you can't be happy here with
u.s." Mrs. Jones told her, II would
|
any one in the house who is unhappy"
The words struck Milie with a
SOLDERING effect. They silenced her
utterly and drove her from the room
to fight down all that day her desper-
ate fear. That afternoon she made
Mrs. Jones another cup Of tea.
She thought Joan the most beauti-
full of babies and she thought of Joan
always as her baby, and Joan seemed
to Millie to feel that Millie was her
whole world, too. When Millie came
to her in the morning, Joan was apt
to begin a crow with delight. When
Millie bathed her, changed her gar
ments, talked to her in that cheer
| ing, reassurlng tone which no matter
what her own mood. she was always
able to summon for Joan, Joan
fairly wriggled with delight.
When it came time for Mr.. Jones
to go to town and Millie was sum-
moned to take the baby, Joan always
came to her eagerly. Sometimes.
when either Mr.. or Mrs. Jones offered
to take the baby from Millie, Joan
would laugh aloud and throw her
arms around Miles neck and snug
gle her face into the nurses shoulder,
as though it were a game she played.
NIille used to tell herself that Joan
| loved her more than she loved either
| her father or her mother, and thus
thinking, she would hug Joan with a
| fierce tenderness. Joan chuckled and
babbled with delight as though these
| ferocious caresses were delightful TO
| her.
! Millie reveled in these hours when
she had Joan to herself. But, when
she perceived that Joan had passed
1 ~ H. ,N1,- ~ ka1& x>I
to another, abandoning one little trick
for the next, Millie felt a poignant
alarm at the approach of the time
when Joan would no longer be
baby at all and so would escape from
her.
She stified these forbodings, cling
ing to the present, refusing to con-
slider the future, binding herself to
the inevitable end of all this happi-
ness, insistently declining to look for.
ward to the day when, one way or
another, she would lose this baby
whom she loved, as she had lost so
many before.
Yet these fears, though they were
stified. had their effect upon her; her
furtive dread sharpened her tongue,
and she found herself saying and do
ing irritating things. At such
moments she was full of regret, not
| so much because of what she had
done as because she laid herself open
/ to dismissal, ran the risk of losing
| Joan. Afterward, she would seek to
make amends, throwing herself into
her work with new zeal, seeking tasks
outside her appointed duties. making
a dress for Joan, or serving Mrs.
! Jones cup of tea in the afternoon.