irkwood's influence, moreover, was
again exerting itself upon him--an influence less than ever likely to
encourage violence of thought or speech. In Sidney's company the worn
rebel became almost placid; his rude, fretted face fell into a singular
humility and mildness. Having ended by accepting what he would formerly
have called charity, and that from a man whom he had wronged with
obstinate perverseness, John neither committed the error of obtruding
his gratitude, nor yet suffered it to be imagined that obligation sat
upon him too lightly. He put no faith in Sidney's assertion that some
unknown benefactor was to be thanked for the new furniture; one and the
same pocket had supplied that and the money for Mrs. Hewett's burial.
Gratitude was all very well, but he could not have rested without
taking some measures towards a literal repayment of his debt. The
weekly coppers which had previously gone for club subscriptions were
now put away in a money-box; they would be long enough in making an
appreciable sum, but yet, if he himself could never discharge the
obligation, his children must take it up after him, and this he
frequently impressed upon Amy, Annie, and Tom.

Nothing, however, could have detached John's mind so completely from
its habits of tumult, nor have fixed it so firmly upon the interests of
home, as his recovery of his daughter. From the day of Clara's
establishment under his roof he thought of her, and of her only. Whilst
working at the filter-factory he remained in imagination by her side,
ceaselessly repeating her words of the night before, eagerly looking
for the hour that would allow him to return to her. Joy and trouble
mingled in an indescribable way to constitute his ordinary mood; one
moment he would laugh at a thought, and before a companion could glance
at him his gladness would be overshadowed as if with the heaviest
anxiety. Men who saw him day after day said at this time that he seemed
to be growing childish; he muttered to himself a good deal, and looked
blankly at you when you addressed him. In the course of a fortnight his
state became more settled, but it was not the cheerful impulse that
predominated. Out of the multitude of thoughts concerning Clara, one
had fixed itself as the main controller of his reflection.
Characteristically, John hit upon what seemed an irremediable
misfortune, and brooded over it with all his might. If only Sidney
Kirkwood were in the same mind as four years ago!