, in spite of all her hard work and
that burning of the candle at both ends which is so abhorrent to the
well-regulated mind. Her features were strongly marked, and somewhat
weather-beaten, and the lower part of the face was too heavily moulded,
but the clear, thoughtful gray eyes had a pleasant light in them.
Malcolm was secretly very proud of his mother. He liked to watch her
moving among her guests in the dignified, gracious way that was
habitual to her.

"She is the very personification of an old-fashioned English
gentlewoman," he said once to Cedric; "but she is hardly modern enough
in her ideas. She takes things too seriously, and that bores people."

It must be confessed that to her young acquaintances Mrs. Herrick was
rather awe-inspiring. Mere pleasure-seekers--drones in the human hive
and all such ne'er-do-weels--were careful to give her a wide berth. Her
quiet little speeches sometimes had a sting in them. "She takes the
starch out of a fellow, don't you know," observed one of these
fashionable loafers, a young officer in the Hussars--"makes him think
he's a worm and no man, and that sort of thing; but she doesn't
understand us Johnnies." Perhaps Mrs. Herrick would willingly have
recalled her crushing speech when, years after, she read the account of
Charlie Gordon's death. "He would have had the Victoria Cross if he had
lived," exclaimed his weeping mother to Mrs. Herrick. "They say he was
the bravest and the finest officer that they had ever known. You can
read the account for yourself. All those lives saved by his gallantry."
But here the poor woman could say no more. How could any woman bear to
think of her boy standing at bay in that dreadful defile, to gain a few
precious moments until help came?

"I wish I had not been so hard on him," thought Mrs. Herrick with a
remorseful recollection of the young officer's hurt look. "What right
had I to climb up into the judgment seat and rebuke one of these little
ones?" and for a long time after that she was more gentle in her
speeches.

"You look well, Malcolm," continued his mother with a satisfied air,
"in spite of the heat and thunder. Anna has been complaining of a
headache all day; but it was impossible for her to rest. However,
Dawson tells me she is better."

"Oh yes, I thought she looked much as usual. She is always rather pale,
you know. I need not ask how you are, mother--you look as fit as ever."

"Yes, I am very well, thank God! I sometimes th