She tried to get in one and
take the baby with her, but it was full, and then, too, she kept
hoping she could get work. Then the baby got sick and needed what
she couldn't give it, and after a while she gave up. She got a woman
to look after the child, promised to pay her well, and went down into
Lillie Pierce's world. Since the day she went she has never been out
except to see the baby, until two weeks ago, when she moved into a
decent place and took two rooms. Harrie had come back to her."
"How old is the child?"
"Ten months. She never intended it to know anything of its mother.
She hoped she would die before it was old enough to understand. It's
a little girl. Etta is eighteen."
The room grew still and, getting up, Mrs. Mundy put more coal on the
fire, made blaze spring from it, warm and red. I waited for her to
go on.
"It seems like Mr. Harrie can't stay away from her, the girl says.
He never sees the child, though. The other woman, who's married and
has children of her own, still keeps it for her. She's named Banch."
Mrs. Mundy looked up.
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