ke. So he sat
himself down there that he might become warm, and in five minutes he
was fast asleep.

How long he slept he did not know; not very long, probably; but
when he awoke it was quite dark. He gazed at the fire for a moment,
bethought himself of where he was and why, shook himself to get rid
of his slumber, and then roused himself in his chair. As he did so a
soft sweet voice close to his shoulder spoke to him. "Herbert," it
said, "are you awake?" And he found that his mother, seated by his
side on a low stool, had been watching him in his sleep.

"Mother!" he exclaimed.

"Herbert, my child, my son!" And the mother and son were fast locked
in each other's arms.

He had sat down there thinking how he would go to his mother and
offer her solace in her sorrow; how he would bid her be of good
cheer, and encourage her to bear the world as the world had now
fallen to her lot. He had pictured to himself that he would find
her sinking in despair, and had promised himself that with his
vows, his kisses, and his prayers, he would bring her back to her
self-confidence, and induce her to acknowledge that God's mercy was
yet good to her. But now, on awakening, he discovered that she had
been tending him in his misery, and watching him while he slept, that
she might comfort him with her caresses the moment that he awoke to
the remembrance of his misfortunes.

"Herbert, Herbert, my son, my son!" she said again, as she pressed
him close in her arms.

"Mother, has he told you?"

Yes, she had learned it all; but hardly more than she had known
before; or, at any rate, not more than she had expected. As she now
told him, for many days past she had felt that this trouble which had
fallen upon his father must have come from the circumstances of their
marriage. And she would have spoken out, she said, when the idea
became clear to her, had she not then been told that Mr. Prendergast
had been invited to come thither from London. Then she knew that she
had better remain silent, at any rate till his visit had been made.

And Herbert again sat in the chair, and his mother crouched, or
almost kneeled, on the cushion at his knee. "Dearest, dearest,
dearest mother," he said, as he supported her head against his
shoulder, "we must love each other now more than ever we have loved."

"And you forgive us, Herbert, for all that we have done to you?"

"Mother, if you speak in that way to me you will kill me. My darling,
darling mothe