And the days which followed with their peace, their slow return of health and strength, brought assurance, too, and she laughed at herself for having been such a foolish child.  She recalled her panic on her wedding night.  Then, too, she had found a Joe unknown.  But had that turned out so dreadful?  He came often to her bedside now; and although she could feel how changed he was, it no longer frightened her.  She had her wee boy; and Emily Giles and Susette and her nurse kept coming in; and the room grew very gay, as they had little parties there.

“Who needs friends so all of a sudden!”

But one day Emily came in and grimly remarked, “There’s a woman outside who owns this apartment.”

“What?”

“She acts that way.  She’s walking ’round that sitting-room—­picking things up and putting things down-” Emily’s voice was rising in wrath.

“Emily!  Sh-h!  She’ll hear you!  Who is she?  Didn’t she give her name?”

“Here’s her name!” And Emily poked out a card, at which Ethel looked in a startled way.

“Fanny Carr!  Now why has she come here?”

“Will you see her or shall I tell her the flat is already rented?”

“No, no!  Emily—­don’t be rude!  She’s a friend of my—­my husband’s!”

And a few moments later, propped up in bed with a pretty lace cap on her head, Ethel was smiling affably at her visitor, who was exclaiming: 

“My dear girl, I’m so glad to see you again!  So good of you, letting me in like this!  I didn’t have the least idea!  I didn’t know of your baby—­I hadn’t even heard you were married!  I’ve been abroad for over a year.  I got back to New York only last week and heard from one of Joe’s men friends of the luck he has had—­how his business is simply booming along!  It’s perfectly gorgeous, Ethel dear, and I’m so glad for you, my child!  When I heard the news—­”

She talked on vivaciously.  And Ethel lay back, her gaze intent on Fanny’s handsome features, on her rich lips, pearl earrings, her eyes with their curious color, grey green, that were so sparkling and alive.  And Ethel thought to herself in dismay:  “How much more attractive she is!  Was my first feeling about her all wrong, or is it that I’m getting used to these New Yorkers?  I thought she was just hard—­all brass!  She isn’t!  She’s—­she’s dangerous!  What is she poking ’round here for?  What does she want?  Is she married again?  No, her name was the same on her card.  Still single—­yes, and looking around—­for somebody with money!”

By the questions Fanny was asking, plainly she was trying to find what friends Ethel had made in New York.  And although the girl on the bed talked of the town in glowing terms, in a few moments Fanny was saying: 

“I’m afraid you’ve been rather lonely here.”

“Oh, no!” And Ethel laughed merrily.  “If you knew how my time is filled—­every hour!  My small boy—­” and she went eagerly on to show how full her life had become.