Rilla of Ingleside - The Original Classic Edition. Montgomery L

       And so it was that Rilla Blythe, who had driven to the Anderson house a self-confessed hater of babies, drove away from it carrying one in a soup tureen on her lap!

       Rilla thought she would never get to Ingleside. In the soup tureen there was an uncanny silence. In one way she was thankful the baby did not cry but she wished it would give an occasional squeak to prove that it was alive. Suppose it were smothered! Rilla dared not unwrap it to see, lest the wind, which was now blowing a hurricane, should "take its breath," whatever dreadful thing that might be. She was a thankful girl when at last she reached harbour at Ingleside.

       Rilla carried the soup tureen to the kitchen, and set it on the table under Susan's eyes. Susan looked into the tureen and for once in

       her life was so completely floored that she had not a word to say.

       30

       "What in the world is this?" asked the doctor, coming in.

       Rilla poured out her story. "I just had to bring it, father," she concluded. "I couldn't leave it there." "What are you going to do with it?" asked the doctor coolly.

       Rilla hadn't exactly expected this kind of question.

       "We--we can keep it here for awhile--can't we--until something can be arranged?" she stammered confusedly.

       Dr. Blythe walked up and down the kitchen for a moment or two while the baby stared at the white walls of the soup tureen and

       Susan showed signs of returning animation. Presently the doctor confronted Rilla.

       "A young baby means a great deal of additional work and trouble in a household, Rilla. Nan and Di are leaving for Redmond next week and neither your mother nor Susan is able to assume so much extra care under present conditions. If you want to keep that baby here you must attend to it yourself."

       "Me!" Rilla was dismayed into being ungrammatical. "Why--father--I--I couldn't!"

       "Younger girls than you have had to look after babies. My advice and Susan's is at your disposal. If you cannot, then the baby must go back to Meg Conover. Its lease of life will be short if it does for it is evident that it is a delicate child and requires particular care. I doubt if it would survive even if sent to an orphans' home. But I cannot have your mother and Susan over-taxed."

       The doctor walked out of the kitchen, looking very stern and immovable. In his heart he knew quite well that the small inhabitant of the big soup tureen would remain at Ingleside, but he meant to see if Rilla could not be induced to rise to the occasion.

       Rilla sat looking blankly at the baby. It was absurd to think she could take care of it. But--that poor little, frail, dead mother who had worried about it--that dreadful old Meg Conover.

       "Susan, what must be done for a baby?" she asked dolefully.

       "You must keep it warm and dry and wash it every day, and be sure the water is neither too hot nor too cold, and feed it every two

       hours. If it has colic, you put hot things on its stomach," said Susan, rather feebly and flatly for her.

       The baby began to cry again.

       "It must be hungry--it has to be fed anyhow," said Rilla desperately. "Tell me what to get for it, Susan, and I'll get it."