ion which had
ended so hopelessly.

'I would rather spend the rest of my days in the workhouse than beg him
to take me back,' was Amy's final comment, uttered with the earnestness
which her mother understood but too well.

'But you are willing to go back, dear?'

'I told him so.'

'Then you must leave this to me. The Carters will let us know how things
go on, and when it seems to be time I must see Edwin myself.'

'I can't allow that. Anything you could say on your own account would be
useless, and there is nothing to say from me.'

Mrs Yule kept her own counsel. She had a full month before her during
which to consider the situation, but it was clear to her that these
young people must be brought together again. Her estimate of Reardon's
mental condition had undergone a sudden change from the moment when she
heard that a respectable post was within his reach; she decided that
he was 'strange,' but then all men of literary talent had marked
singularities, and doubtless she had been too hasty in interpreting the
peculiar features natural to a character such as his.

A few days later arrived the news of their relative's death at
Wattleborough.

This threw Mrs Yule into a commotion. At first she decided to accompany
her son and be present at the funeral; after changing her mind twenty
times, she determined not to go. John must send or bring back the news
as soon as possible. That it would be of a nature sensibly to affect
her own position, if not that of her children, she had little doubt;
her husband had been the favourite brother of the deceased, and on that
account there was no saying how handsome a legacy she might receive. She
dreamt of houses in South Kensington, of social ambitions gratified even
thus late.

On the morning after the funeral came a postcard announcing John's
return by a certain train, but no scrap of news was added.

'Just like that irritating boy! We must go to the station to meet him.
You'll come, won't you, Amy?'

Amy readily consented, for she too had hopes, though circumstances
blurred them. Mother and daughter were walking about the platform
half an hour before the train was due; their agitation would have been
manifest to anyone observing them. When at length the train rolled in
and John was discovered, they pressed eagerly upon him.

'Don't you excite yourself,' he said gruffly to his mother. 'There's no
reason whatever.'

Mrs Yule glanced in dismay at Amy. They followed John