Then, one morning in early June, her practiced fingers were going
through the pile of mail orders and they singled out one that carried
the postmark of Alpine. Marie bit her lips, but her fingers did not
falter in their task. Cheap table linen, cheap collars, cheap suits or
cheap something-or-other was wanted, she had no doubt. She took out the
paper with the blue money order folded inside, speared the money order
on the hook with others, drew her order pad closer, and began to go
through the list of articles wanted.
This was the list:-XL 94, 3 Dig in the mud suits, 3 yr at 59c $1.77
XL 14 1 Buddy tucker suit 3 yr 2.00
KL 6 1 Bunny pumps infant 5 1.25
KL 54 1 Fat Ankle shoe infant 5 .98
HL 389 4 Rubens vests, 3 yr at 90c 2.70
SL 418 3 Pajamas 3 yr. at 59c 1.77
OL 823 1 Express wagon, 15x32 in. 4.25
--
$14.22 For which money order is enclosed. Please ship at once.
Very truly,
R. E. MOORE,
Alpine, Calif.
Mechanically she copied the order on a slip of paper which she put into
her pocket, left her desk and her work and the store, and hurried to her
boarding house.
Not until she was in her own room with the door locked did she dare let
herself think. She sat down with the copy spread open before her, her
slim fingers pressing against her temples. Something amazing had been
revealed to her--something so amazing that she could scarcely comprehend
its full significance. Bud--never for a minute did she doubt that it
was Bud, for she knew his handwriting too well to be mistaken--Bud was
sending for clothes for a baby boy!
"3 Dig in the mud suits, 3 yr--" it sounded, to the hungry mother soul
of her, exactly like her Lovin Child. She could see so vividly just
how he would look in them. And the size--she certainly would buy than
three-year size, if she were buying for Lovin Child. And the little
"Buddy tucker" suit--that, too, sounded like Lovin Child. He must--Bud
certainly must have him up there with him! Then Lovin Child was not
drowned at all, but alive and needing dig-in-the-muds.
"Bud's got him! Oh, Bud has got him, I know he's got him!" she whispered
over and over to herself in an ecstasy of hope. "My little Lovin Man!
He's up there right now with his Daddy Bud--"
A vague anger stirred faintly, flared, died almost, flared again and
burned steadily within her. Bud had her Lovin Child! How did he come to
have him, then, unless he stole him? Stole him away, and let her suffer
all this while, believing her baby was dead in the river!
"You devil!" she muttered, gritting her teeth when that thought formed
clearly in her mind. "Oh, you devil, you! If you think you can get away
with a thing like that--You devil!"