“So you think he’ll be awake by the new moon?” her aunt asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Well before then, I’d say. He should be in fine fettle for church.”
“Oh, thank the Great One.”
“How is the girl?” the physician asked.
“Far less fiery and strong-willed than her mother, to my eye. Ezekias says she went with him without complaint. Polite and compliant the whole trip down. A perfect little lady.”
“Good, good.”
Morinda sighed. “I don’t understand where we went wrong with Edna. Her blood was as pure as we could make it, and yet she resisted us at every turn. And she went and bred with a Jew, of all things, after all we taught her! I reckoned Penny would be an utter waste, and yet she seems perfect.”
“There are some who extol the benefits of hybrid vigor,” the physician repl
