e face and tone. 'It's been my strong desire that we might come
together again, and I've done the best I could to find you. But, as you
said, we've been parted for a very long time, and it isn't in a day
that we can come to understand each other. These seventeen years have
made an old man of me, Jo; I think and speak and act slowly:--better
for us all if I had learned to do so long ago! Your coming was
unexpected; I shall need a little time to get used to the change it
makes.'

'To be sure; that's true enough. Plenty of time to talk over things. As
far as I'm concerned, father, the less said about bygones the better;
it's the future that I care about now. I want to put things right
between us--as they ought to be between father and son. You understand
me, I hope?'

Michael nodded, keeping his eyes upon the ground. Again there was a
silence, then Joseph said that if Jane would come in and speak a few
words--so as to make things home-like--it would be time for him to take
his leave for the present. At her grandfather's summons Jane entered
the room. She was still oppressed by the strangeness of her position,
and with difficulty took part in the colloquy. Joseph, still touching
the note of humility in his talk, eyed his relatives alternately, and
exhibited reluctance to quit them.

When he returned to the Close, it was with a face expressing
dissatisfaction. Clem's eager inquiries he met at first with an
ill-tempered phrase or two, which informed her of nothing; but when
dinner was over he allowed himself to be drawn into a confidential
talk, in which Mrs. Peckover took part. The old man, he remarked, was
devilish close; it looked as if 'some game was on.' Mrs. Peckover
ridiculed this remark; of course there was a game on; she spoke of
Sidney Kirkwood, the influence he had obtained over Snowdon, the
designs he was obviously pursuing. If Joseph thought he would recover
his rights, at this time of day, save by direct measures, it only
proved how needful it was for him to be instructed by shrewd people.
The old man was a hard nut to crack; why he lived in Hanover Street,
and sent Jane to work, when it was certain that he had wealth at
command, Mrs. Peckover could not pretend to explain, but in all
probability he found a pleasure in accumulating money, and was abetted
therein by Sidney Kirkwood. Clem could bear witness that Jane always
seemed to have secrets to hide; nevertheless a good deal of information
had been extract