Nancy
Ellen used the hammer. Her face flushed, her arms closed tightly.
"Give me this baby," she demanded.
Kate looked at her in helpless amazement.
"Give it to me," repeated Nancy Ellen.
"She's a gift to me," said Kate, slowly. "One the Peters family
are searching heaven and earth to find an excuse to take from me.
I hear they've been to a lawyer twice, already. I wouldn't give
her up to save my soul alive, for myself; for you, if I would let
you have her, they would not leave you in possession a day."
"Are they really trying to get her?" asked Nancy Ellen, slowly
loosening her grip.
"They are," said Kate. "They sent a lawyer to get a copy of the
papers, to see if they could pick a flaw in them."
"Can they?" cried Nancy Ellen.
"God knows!" said Kate, slowly. "I HOPE not. Mr. Thomlins is the
best lawyer in Hartley; he says not. He says Henry put his neck
in the noose when he signed the papers. The only chance I can see
for him would be to plead undue influence. When you look at her,
you can't blame him for wanting her. I've two hopes. One that
his mother will not want the extra work; the other that the next
girl he selects will not want the baby.
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