nerosity or not. The
circumstance puzzled and troubled him. That afternoon he had to go to
Yoden to see his brother, and he came home by way of Hatton Hall.

As he anticipated, he found his mother pleasantly enjoying her cup of
afternoon tea, and she rose with a cry of love to welcome him.

"I was thinking of thee, John, and then I heard thy footsteps. I hev
the best pot of tea in Yorkshire at my right hand; I'm sure thou wilt
hev a cup."

"To be sure I will. It is one of the things I came for, and I want to
talk to you half an hour."

"Say all that is in thy heart, and there's nothing helps talk, like a
cup of good tea. Whatever does thou want to talk to me about?"

"I want to talk to you about Jane."

"Well then, be careful what thou says. No man's mother is a fair
counselor about his wife. They will both say more than they ought to
say, especially if she isn't present to explain; and when they don't
fully understand, how can they advise?"

"You could not be unjust to anyone, mother?"

"Well, then?"

"She is so much better than she has ever been since the child went
away."

"She is doing her best. Thou must help her with all thy heart and soul."

"All her love for me seems to have come back."

"It never left thee for a moment."

"But for weeks and months she has not seemed to care for anything but
her memory of Martha."

"That is the way men's big unsuspecting feet go blundering and crushing
through a woman's heart. In the first place, she was overwhelmed with
grief at Martha's sudden death and at her own apparent instrumentality
in it."

"I loved Martha as well, perhaps better, than Jane."

"Not thou! Thou never felt one thrill of a mother's love. Jane would
have died twice over to save her child. Thou said with all the
bitterness of death in thy soul, 'God's will be done.'"

"We will let that pass. Why has her grief been so long-continued?"

"Thou _hed_ to put thine aside. A thousand voices called on thee for
daily bread. Thou did not dare to indulge thy private sorrow at the risk
of neglecting the work God had given thee to do. Jane had nothing to
interest her. Her house was so well arranged it hardly needed oversight.
The charities that had occupied her heart and her hands were ended and
closed. In every room in your house, in every avenue of your garden and
park Martha had left her image. Many hours every day you were in a total
change of scene and saw a constant variety of men and women. J