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- Колин Маккалоу
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- Стр. 307/535
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He
(
she
always
thought
of
it
as
he
)
was
a
part
of
her
as
Justine
never
had
been
;
she
suffered
no
sickness
or
depression
,
and
looked
forward
eagerly
to
bearing
him
.
Perhaps
Justine
was
inadvertently
responsible
for
some
of
this
;
now
that
the
little
pale-eyed
thing
was
changing
from
a
mindless
baby
to
an
extremely
intelligent
girl
child
,
Meggie
found
herself
fascinated
with
the
process
and
the
child
.
It
was
a
long
time
since
she
had
been
indifferent
to
Justine
,
and
she
yearned
to
lavish
love
upon
her
daughter
,
hug
her
,
kiss
her
,
laugh
with
her
.
To
be
politely
rebuffed
was
a
shock
,
but
that
was
what
Justine
did
at
every
affectionate
overture
.
When
Jims
and
Patsy
left
Riverview
,
Mrs.
Smith
had
thought
to
get
them
back
under
her
wing
again
,
then
came
the
disappointment
of
discovering
they
were
away
in
the
paddocks
most
of
the
time
.
So
Mrs.
Smith
turned
to
little
Justine
,
and
found
herself
as
firmly
shut
out
as
Meggie
was
.
It
seemed
that
Justine
did
n't
want
to
be
hugged
,
kissed
or
made
to
laugh
.
She
walked
and
talked
early
,
at
nine
months
.
Once
upon
her
feet
and
in
command
of
a
very
articulate
tongue
,
she
proceeded
to
go
her
own
way
and
do
precisely
whatever
she
wanted
.
Not
that
she
was
either
noisy
or
defiant
;
simply
that
she
was
made
of
very
hard
metal
indeed
.
Meggie
knew
nothing
about
genes
,
but
if
she
had
she
might
have
pondered
upon
the
result
of
an
intermingling
of
Cleary
,
Armstrong
and
O'Neill
.
It
could
n't
fail
to
be
powerful
human
soup
.
But
the
most
dismaying
thing
was
Justine
's
dogged
refusal
to
smile
or
laugh
.
Every
soul
on
Drogheda
turned
inside
out
performing
antics
to
make
her
germinate
a
grin
,
without
success
.
When
it
came
to
innate
solemnity
she
outdid
her
grandmother
.
On
the
first
of
October
,
when
Justine
was
exactly
sixteen
months
old
,
Meggie
's
son
was
born
on
Drogheda
.
He
was
almost
four
weeks
early
and
not
expected
;
there
were
two
or
three
sharp
contractions
,
the
water
broke
,
and
he
was
delivered
by
Mrs.
Smith
and
Fee
a
few
minutes
after
they
rang
for
the
doctor
.
Meggie
had
scarcely
had
time
to
dilate
.
The
pain
was
minimal
,
the
ordeal
so
quickly
over
it
might
hardly
have
been
;
in
spite
of
the
stitches
she
had
to
have
because
his
entry
into
the
world
had
been
so
precipitate
,
Meggie
felt
wonderful
.
Totally
dry
for
Justine
,
her
breasts
were
full
to
overflowing
.
No
need
for
bottles
or
tins
of
Lactogen
this
time
.
And
he
was
so
beautiful
!
Long
and
slender
,
with
a
quiff
of
flaxen
hair
atop
his
perfect
little
skull
,
and
vivid
blue
eyes
which
gave
no
hint
of
changing
later
to
some
other
color
.
How
could
they
change
?
They
were
Ralph
's
eyes
,
as
he
had
Ralph
's
hands
,
Ralph
's
nose
and
mouth
,
even
Ralph
's
feet
.
Meggie
was
unprincipled
enough
to
be
very
thankful
Luke
had
been
much
the
same
build
and
coloring
as
Ralph
,
much
the
same
in
features
.
But
the
hands
,
the
way
the
brows
grew
in
,
the
downy
widow
's
peak
,
the
shape
of
the
fingers
and
toes
;
they
were
so
much
Ralph
,
so
little
Luke
.
Better
hope
no
one
remembered
which
man
owned
what
.
"
Have
you
decided
on
his
name
?
"
asked
Fee
;
he
seemed
to
fascinate
her
.
Meggie
watched
her
as
she
stood
holding
him
,
and
was
grateful
.
Mum
was
going
to
love
again
;
oh
,
maybe
not
the
way
she
had
loved
Frank
,
but
at
least
she
would
feel
something
.
