Jane's Baby

"Jane's Baby" by Lucy Maud Montgomery is a touching short story that explores themes of love, sacrifice, and the complexities of motherhood. The narrative centers around Jane, a young woman who faces the challenges and emotional turmoil of an unexpected pregnancy. As she grapples with her circumstances, Jane navigates societal pressures and personal desires, ultimately revealing the strength of her character and the depth of her feelings. Through Montgomery's poignant prose, the story delves into the profound impact of choices and the enduring bonds of family, making it a resonant tale of resilience and hope.

• Short story

								
Miss Rosetta Ellis, with her front hair in curl-papers, and her
back hair bound with a checked apron, was out in her breezy side
yard under the firs, shaking her parlor rugs, when Mr. Nathan
Patterson drove in.  Miss Rosetta had seen him coming down the
long red hill, but she had not supposed he would be calling at
that time of the morning.  So she had not run.  Miss Rosetta
always ran if anybody called and her front hair was in
curl-papers; and, though the errand of the said caller might be
life or death, he or she had to wait until Miss Rosetta had taken
her hair out.  Everybody in Avonlea knew this, because everybody
in Avonlea knew everything about everybody else.

But Mr. Patterson had wheeled into the lane so quickly and
unexpectedly that Miss Rosetta had had no time to run; so,
twitching off the checked apron, she stood her ground as calmly
as might be under the disagreeable consciousness of curl-papers.

"Good morning, Miss Ellis," said Mr. Patterson, so somberly that
Miss Rosetta instantly felt that he was the bearer of bad news.
Usually Mr. Patterson's face was as broad and beaming as a
harvest moon.  Now his expression was very melancholy and his
voice positively sepulchral.

"Good morning," returned Miss Rosetta, crisply and cheerfully.
She, at any rate, would not go into eclipse until she knew the
reason therefor.  "It is a fine day."

"A very fine day," assented Mr. Patterson, solemnly.  "I have
just come from the Wheeler place, Miss Ellis, and I regret to
say--"

"Charlotte is sick!" cried Miss Rosetta, rapidly.  "Charlotte has
got another spell with her heart!  I knew it!  I've been
expecting to hear it!  Any woman that drives about the country as
much as she does is liable to heart disease at any moment.  I
never go outside of my gate but I meet her gadding off somewhere.
Goodness knows who looks after her place.  I shouldn't like to
trust as much to a hired man as she does.  Well, it is very kind
of you, Mr. Patterson, to put yourself out to the extent of
calling to tell me that Charlotte is sick, but I don't really see
why you should take so much trouble--I really don't.  It doesn't
matter to me whether Charlotte is sick or whether she isn't.  YOU
know that perfectly well, Mr. Patterson, if anybody does.  When
Charlotte went and got married, on the sly, to that good-for-nothing
Jacob Wheeler--"

"Mrs. Wheeler is quite well," interrupted Mr. Patterson
desperately.  "Quite well.  Nothing at all the matter with her,
in fact.  I only--"

"Then what do you mean by coming here and telling me she wasn't,
and frightening me half to death?" demanded Miss Rosetta,
indignantly.  "My own heart isn't very strong--it runs in our
family--and my doctor warned me to avoid all shocks and
excitement.  I don't want to be excited, Mr. Patterson.  I won't
be excited, not even if Charlotte has another spell.  It's
perfectly useless for you to try to excite me, Mr. Patterson."

"Bless the woman, I'm not trying to excite anybody!" declared Mr.
Patterson in exasperation.  "I merely called to tell you--"

"To tell me WHAT?" said Miss Rosetta.  "How much longer do you
mean to keep me in suspense, Mr. Patterson.  No doubt you have
abundance of spare time, but--I--have NOT."

"--that your sister, Mrs. Wheeler, has had a letter from a cousin
of yours, and she's in Charlottetown.  Mrs. Roberts, I think her
name is--"

"Jane Roberts," broke in Miss Rosetta.  "Jane Ellis she was,
before she was married.  What was she writing to Charlotte about?
Not that I want to know, of course.  I'm not interested in
Charlotte's correspondence, goodness knows.  But if Jane had
anything in particular to write about she should have written to
ME.  I am the oldest.  Charlotte had no business to get a letter
from Jane Roberts without consulting me.  It's just like her
underhanded ways.  She got married the same way.  Never said a
word to me about it, but just sneaked off with that unprincipled
Jacob Wheeler--"

"Mrs. Roberts is very ill. I understand," persisted Mr.
Patterson, nobly resolved to do what he had come to do, "dying,
in fact, and--"

"Jane ill!  Jane dying!" exclaimed Miss Rosetta.  "Why, she was
the healthiest girl I ever knew!  But then I've never seen her,
nor heard from her, since she got married fifteen years ago.  I
dare say her husband was a brute and neglected her, and she's
pined away by slow degrees.  I've no faith in husbands.  Look at
Charlotte!  Everybody knows how Jacob Wheeler used her.  To be
sure, she deserved it, but--"

"Mrs. Roberts' husband is dead," said Mr. Patterson.  "Died about
two months ago, I understand, and she has a little baby six
months old, and she thought perhaps Mrs. Wheeler would take it
for old times' sake--"

"Did Charlotte ask you to call and tell me this?" demanded Miss
Rosetta eagerly.

"No; she just told me what was in the letter.  She didn't mention
you; but I thought, perhaps, you ought to be told--"

"I knew it," said Miss Rosetta in a tone of bitter assurance.  "I
could have told you so.  Charlotte wouldn't even let me know that
Jane was ill.  Charlotte would be afraid I would want to get the
baby, seeing that Jane and I were such intimate friends long ago.
And who has a better right to it than me, I should like to know?
Ain't I the oldest?  And haven't I had experience in bringing up
babies?  Charlotte needn't think she is going to run the affairs
of our family just because she happened to get married.  Jacob
Wheeler--"

"I must be going," said Mr. Patterson, gathering up his reins
thankfully.

"I am much obliged to you for coming to tell me about Jane," said
Miss Rosetta, "even though you have wasted a lot of precious time
getting it out.  If it hadn't been for you I suppose I should
never have known it at all.  As it is, I shall start for town
just as soon as I can get ready."

"You'll have to hurry if you want to get ahead of Mrs. Wheeler,"
advised Mr. Patterson.  "She's packing her trunk and going on
the morning train."

"I'll pack a valise and go on the afternoon train," retorted Miss
Rosetta triumphantly.  "I'll show Charlotte she isn't running the
Ellis affairs.  She married out of them into the Wheelers.  She
can attend to them.  Jacob Wheeler was the most--"

But Mr. Patterson had driven away.  He felt that he had done his
duty in the face of fearful odds, and he did not want to hear
anything more about Jacob Wheeler.

Rosetta Ellis and Charlotte Wheeler had not exchanged a word for
ten years.  Before that time they had been devoted to each other,
living together in the little Ellis cottage on the White Sands
road, as they had done ever since their parents' death.  The
trouble began when Jacob Wheeler had commenced to pay attention

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