She did not like it and she lay silent under the chill of it . `` Stepmothers are AWFUL creatures , '' Mary went on . `` I could make your blood run cold if I was to tell you all I know about 'em . The Wilson kids across the road from Wiley 's had a stepmother . She was just as bad to 'em as Mrs. Wiley was to me . It 'll be awful if you get a stepmother . '' `` I 'm sure we wo n't , '' said Una tremulously . `` Father wo n't marry anybody else . '' `` He 'll be hounded into it , I expect , '' said Mary darkly . `` All the old maids in the settlement are after him . There 's no being up to them . And the worst of stepmothers is , they always set your father against you . He 'd never care anything about you again . He 'd always take her part and her children 's part . You see , she 'd make him believe you were all bad . '' `` I wish you had n't told me this , Mary , '' cried Una . `` It makes me feel so unhappy . '' `` I only wanted to warn you , '' said Mary , rather repentantly . `` Of course , your father 's so absent-minded he might n't happen to think of getting married again . But it 's better to be prepared . ''
Long after XXXXX slept serenely little Una lay awake , her eyes smarting with tears .
Father Mary Mrs. Una Wiley Wilson anybody anything maids stepmother