IV
Out of Nat’s convalescence the mother remembered that she “had nursed him faithfully till she was about sick from the strain.” That she had “made of him”—meaning undoubtedly the moment of his awakening when he had embraced her and she had kissed him—and had done her best by him according as the Lord gave her strength.
The father remembered he had “told the lad stories by the hour” (actual talking time, twenty-four minutes of a single half-noon) and “cheered him by praising him for not taking the back talk of anybody.”
But Nathan! He only remembered that his mother had fussed about the blood on the bed clothing; that his father had come in and “reeled off the same old pack of lies” about his own boyhood and ended by reminding him that if he lost his job at the tannery, God help him for the father would not, needing his money just then more than ever.