In Chapter Seventeen, Mother is trying tp prove what kind of woman she is.... the kind of woman, who would nothurt a fly.

She sat there for quite a long time, and then a fly came buzzing through the bars.

It lighted on her hand.

If she wanted to, she could reach out and swat the fly.

But she didn't swat it.

She didn't swat it, and she hoped they were watching, because that _proved_ what sort of a person she really was. Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly. . . .