"I'll wager they ain't a word of truth in that tale they're
telling," she said.
Kate looked straight at her: "Well, for their sakes and my sake,
and the babies' sake, don't TALK about it."
"You poor thing!" said Aunt Ollie, "I'll do anything in the world
to help you. If ever you need me, just call on me. I'll go start
him back in a hurry."
He came every night, but Kate steadily refused, until she felt
able to sit up in a chair, to see him, or his mother when she came
to see the babies. She had recovered rapidly, was over the
painful part of nursing the babies, and had a long talk with Aunt
Ollie, before she consented to see George. At times she thought
she never could see him again; at others, she realized her
helplessness. She had her babies to nurse for a year; there was
nothing she could think of she knew to do, that she could do, and
take proper care of two children. She was tied "hand and foot,"
as Aunt Ollie said. And yet it was Aunt Ollie who solved her
problem for her. Sitting beside the bed one day she said to Kate:
"My dear, do you know that I'm having a mighty good time? I guess
I was lonesomer than I thought out there all alone so much, and
the work was nigh to breaking me during the long, cold winter. I
got a big notion to propose somepin' to you that might be a
comfort to all of us."
"Propose away," said Kate. "I'm at my wit's end."
"Well, what would you think of you and George taking the land,
working it on the shares, and letting me have this room, an' live
in Walden, awhile?"
Kate sat straight up in bed: "Oh, Aunt Ollie! Would you?" she
cried. "Would you? That would be a mercy to me; it would give
George every chance to go straight, if there is a straight impulse
in him."
"Yes, I will," said Aunt Ollie, "and you needn't feel that I am
getting the little end of the bargain, either. The only
unpleasant thing about it will be my sister, and I'll undertake to
manage her. I read a lot, an' I can always come to see you when
mortal sperrits will bear her no more. She'll be no such trial to
me, as she is to you."
"You're an angel," said Kate. "You've given me hope where I had
not a glimmer. If I have George out there alone, away from his
mother, I can bring out all the good there is in him, and we can
get some results out of life, or I can assure myself that it is
impossible, so that I can quit with a clear conscience. I do
thank you."