er his shoulder:

"Yes--that's true, Annie--that's what I said and what I mean. There is
no use wasting any more time over Talbot, and I don't intend to."

"But Mr. Rutter will get over his temper." (She never called him by any
other name.)

"Then he will have to come here and say so. I shall never step foot in
his house until he does, nor will Harry. As to his forgiving Harry--the
boot is on the other leg; it is Talbot, not the boy he outraged, who
must straighten out to-day's work. There was not a man who heard him who
was not ashamed of him. Oh!--I have no patience with this sort of thing!
The only son he's got--his only child! Abominable--unforgivable! And it
will haunt him to his dying day! Poor as I am, alone in the world and
without a member of my family above ground, I would not change places
with him. No--Annie--I know how you feel, and God knows I have felt
for you all these years, but I tell you the end has come! It's
finished--over--I told him so to his face, and I mean it!"

The slight body sank back into her chair and her eyes filled with tears.
Harry knelt beside her and put his arms about her. This mother, frail
as she was, had always been his refuge and comfort: now he must do the
comforting! (Keep moving, old red corpuscle, there is a lot of work
ahead of you!)

"Don't worry, you dear little mother," he said tenderly. "I don't know
how it's coming out, but it will come out somehow. Let father go: Kate
is the only thing that counts now. I don't blame her for anything she
has done, and I don't blame myself either. All I know is that everything
has gone wrong. But, wrong or right, I'm going to stay here just as long
as Uncle George will let me. He's been more of a father to me than my
own. It's you I can't get along without, you precious little mother,"
and he patted her pale cheeks. "Won't you come in every day--and bring
Alec too?" then, as if he had not yet asked her consent--"You don't mind
my being here, do you?"

She drew his head close to her lips and kissed his cheek. "No, my son,
I don't mind--I'm glad. Every night of my life I thank my Maker that
you are here." She raised her eyes to St. George, who stood looking down
upon them both, and in a voice barely audible, an unbidden sob choking
her utterance, faltered--"It's only one more proof of your goodness, St.
George."

He raised his hand in protest and a faint smile crossed his face. "Don't
talk that way. Annie."

"I will--it's true. I