In those walks very little was said. They walked in silence, slipping now
and then into occasional speech, and here and there a casual allusion or a
broken sentence would indicate what was passing in their minds.
One day some flannel and shirts in a window caught Mrs. Saunder's eye, and
she said--
"It is time, Esther, you thought about your baby clothes. One must be
prepared; one never knows if one will go one's full time."
The words came upon Esther with something of a shock, helping her to
realise the imminence of her trouble.
"You must have something by you, dear; one never knows how it is going to
turn out; even I who have been through it do feel that nervous. I looks
round the kitchen when I'm taken with the pains, and I says, 'I may never
see this room again.'"
The words were said in an undertone to Esther, and the shop-woman turned
to get down the ready-made things which Mrs. Saunders had asked to see.
"Here," said the shopwoman, "is the gown, longcloth, one-and-sixpence;
here is the flannel, one-and-sixpence; and here is the little shirt,
sixpence."
"You must have these to go on with, dear, and if the baby lives you'll
want another set."
"Oh, mother, of course he'll live; why shouldn't he?"
Even the shopwoman smiled, and Mrs. Saunders, addressing the shopwoman,
said--
"Them that knows nothing about it is allus full of 'ope.
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