"And must I lose him?"
"She says so. She says that he doesn't mean it, and that it's all nonsense."
"I don't believe her. Nothing shall make me believe that, mamma."
"She says it would be ruinous to all his prospects, especially just now when he has quarrelled about this brewery."
"Ruinous to him!"
"His mother says so."
"I will never wish him to do anything that shall be ruinous to himself; never;—not though I were broken-hearted, as you call it."
"Ah, that is it, Rachel, my darling; I wish he had not come here."
Rachel went away across the room and looked out of the window upon the green. There she stood in silence for a few minutes while her mother was wiping her eyes and suppressing her sobs. Tears also had run down Rachel's cheeks; but they were silent tears, few in number and very salt. "I cannot bring myself to wish that yet," said she.
"But he has gone away, and what can you do if he does not come again?"