Other people had joined or stopped close by and were watching and listening.
"Oh I'm sorry to hear it. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Carpenter. Josephine Morgan, and this is my husband Paul and our daughters, Susan, Ellen, and Irene." The young girls made little sounds of delight while watching the baby.

Tobias remembered how people had watched and introduced themselves to Alice on her first day, and whispered at a distance, the way he saw some people do now, and how she had been upset after church and refused to go back. And so he broke in now. "We better go in and find a quiet spot so t' bairn doesn't wake up durin' t' service," he said, and he gestured for Iris to go ahead.