arting almost immediately for Italy, and was anxious
that he should accompany her. If it were to be so he was quite alive
to the expediency of going with her. "But what is it, mother?" he
asked, when she had requested his attendance without giving the cause
which rendered the journey necessary. Then she paused as though
considering whether she would comply with his request, and tell him
that whole secret of his life which she had hitherto concealed from
him. "Of course, I will not press you," he said, "if you think that
you cannot trust me."

"Oh, George, that is unkind."

"What else am I to say? Is it possible that I should start suddenly
upon such a journey, or that I should see you doing so, without
asking the reason why? Or can I suppose if you do not tell me, but
that there is some reason why you should not trust me?"

"You know I trust you. No mother ever trusted a son more implicitly.
You ought to know that. It is not a matter of trusting. There may be
secrets to which a person shall be so pledged that she cannot tell
them to her dearest friend. If I had made a promise would you not
have me keep it?"

"Promises such as that should not be exacted, and should not be
made."

"But if they have been exacted and have been made? Do as I ask you
now, and it is probable that everything will be clear to you before
we return, or at any rate as clear to you as it is to me." After
this, with a certain spirit of reticence which was peculiar with
him, he made up his mind to do as his mother would have him without
asking further questions. He set himself to work immediately to make
the necessary arrangements for his journey with as much apparent
satisfaction as though it were to be done on his own behalf. It was
decided that they would start on the next Friday, travel through
France and by the tunnel of the Mont Cenis to Turin, and thence on to
Milan. Of what further there was to befall them he knew nothing at
this period.

It was necessary in the first place that he should get leave of
absence from Sir Boreas, as to which he professed himself to be in
much doubt, because he had already enjoyed the usual leave of absence
allowed by the rules of the office. But on this matter he found
Aeolus to be very complaisant. "What, Italy?" said Sir Boreas. "Very
nice when you get there, I should say, but a bad time of year for
travelling. Sudden business, eh?--To go with your mother! It is bad
for a lady to go alone. How long? You