He's on the jump to be off. I see him gone, too. God knows I
may never see one of them again. I sit here in the long evenings and
think how death may take my boys,--even this minute they may be
breathing their last,--and then I knit this baby sock and think of the
precious little life that's coming. It's my one comfort, Amelia. Nothing
must happen now.
_Amelia:_ [_With a touch of impatience._]
What's the matter with Hedwig?
_Mother:_
I don't know what it is. She acts as if she didn't want to bring her
child into the world. She talks wild. I tell you I must have that child,
Amelia! I cannot live else. Hedwig frightens me. The other night I found
her sitting on the edge of her bed staring,--when she should have been
asleep,--as if she saw visions, and whispering, "I will send a message
to the emperor." What message? I had to shake her out of it. She refuses
to make a thing for her baby. Says, "Wait till I see what they do to
Franz." It's unnatural.
_Amelia:_
I can't understand her. I never could. I always thought it was because
she was a factory-town girl.
_Mother:_
If anything should happen to Franz in the state she's in now, Hedwig
might go out of her mind entirely.
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