fter all.
And yet, though John was so clever and had such an experience of human
nature, it was the doctor who had put the key into his hands, which
presently unlocked Lady Mary's confidence.

"You mustn't think, John, that I don't understand what it will be like
later, when Peter comes of age. Of course this house will be his,
and he is not the kind of young man to be tied to his mother's
apron-string. He always wanted to be independent."

"It is human nature," said John.

"I am not blind to his faults," said Lady Mary, humbly, "though they
all think so. It is of little use to try and hide them from you, who
will see them for yourself directly my darling comes back. I pray God
it may be soon. Of course he is spoilt; but I am to blame, because I
made him my idol."

"An only son is always more or less spoilt," said John. He remembered
his own boyhood, and smiled sardonically in the darkness. "He will
grow out of it. He will come back a man after this experience."

"Yes, yes, and he will want to live his life, and I--I shall have to
learn to do without him, I know," she said. "I must learn while he is
away to--to depend on myself. It is not likely that--that a woman
of my age should have much in common with a manly boy like Peter.
Sometimes I wonder whether I really understand my boy at all."

"It is my belief," said John, "that no generation is in perfect touch
with another. Each stands on a different rung of the ladder of Time.
You may stoop to lend a helping hand to the younger, or reach upwards
to take a farewell of the older. But there must be a looking down or
a looking up. No face-to-face talk is possible except upon the same
level. No real and true comradeship. The very word implies a marching
together, under the same circumstances, to a common goal; and how can
we, who have to be the commanding officers of the young, be their true
companions?" he said, lightly and cheerfully.

"I dare say I have expected impossibilities," said Lady Mary, as
though reproaching herself. "It comforts me to think so. But I have
had time to reflect on many things since--February." She paused. "I
don't deny I have tried to make plans for the future. But there are
these days to be lived through first--until he comes home."

"I was going to propose," said John, "that, if agreeable to you, I
should spend my summer and autumn holiday here, instead of going, as
usual, to Switzerland."

"I should be only too glad," she said, in to