Oh, I
know--I know more than you think I do. Ruining your life! That's what I
am, and mine too!"
Tears now ran in hot cascades down Alma's cheeks.
"Why, mama, as if I cared about anything--just so you--get well."
"I know what I've done. Ruined my baby's life and now--"
"No!"
"Then help me, Alma. Louis wants me for his happiness. I want him for
mine. Nothing will cure me like having a good man to live up to. The
minute I find myself getting the craving for--it--don't you see, baby,
fear that a good husband like Louis could find out such a thing about me
would hold me back. See, Alma?"
"That's a wrong basis to start married life on--"
"I'm a woman who needs a man to baby her, Alma. That's the cure for me.
Not to let me would be the same as to kill me. I've been a bad, weak
woman, Alma, to be so afraid that maybe Leo Friedlander would steal you
away from me. We'll make it a double wedding, baby!"
"Mama, mama, I'll never leave you."
"All right then, so you won't think your new father and me want to get
rid of you. The first thing we'll pick out in our new home, he said it
himself tonight, is Alma's room."
"I tell you it's wrong. It's wrong!"
"The rest with Leo can come later, after I've proved to you for a little
while that I'm cured.
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