'Linda, at any rate, far exceeds her in beauty,' was Norman's first thought, as he stood for a moment to look at her—'and then Linda too is so much more feminine.' 'Twas thus that Harry Norman consoled himself in the first moment of his first interview with Alaric's wife. And he was right in his thoughts. The world would now have called Linda the more lovely of the two, and certainly the more feminine in the ladylike sense of the word. If, however, devotion be feminine, and truth to one selected life's companion, if motherly care be so, and an indomitable sense of the duties due to one's own household, then Gertrude was not deficient in feminine character.
'You find me greatly altered, Harry, do you not?' said she, taking his hand frankly, and perceiving immediately the effect which she had made upon him. 'I am a steady old matron, am I not?—with a bairn on each side of me,' and she pointed to her baby in the cradle, and to her other boy sitting on his grandmother's knee.
Harry said he did find her altered. It was her dress, he said, and the cap on her head.
'Yes, Harry; and some care and trouble too. To you, you know, to a friend such as you are, I must own that care and trouble do tell upon one. Not, thank God, that I have more than I can bear; not that I have not blessings for which I cannot but be too thankful.'
'And so these are your boys, Gertrude?'
'Yes,' said she, cheerfully; 'these are the little men, that in the good times coming will be managing vast kingdoms, and giving orders to this worn-out old island of yours. Alley, my boy, sing your new song about the 'good and happy land.' But Alley, who had got hold of his grandmother's watch, and was staring with all his eyes at the stranger, did not seem much inclined to be musical at the present moment.
'And this is Charley's godson,' continued Gertrude, taking up the baby. 'Dear Charley! he has been such a comfort to me.'
'I have heard all about you daily from him,' said Harry.
'I know you have—and he is daily talking of you, Harry. And so he should do; so we all should do. What a glorious change this is for him! is it not, Harry?'
Charley by this time had torn himself away from Mr. Snape and the navvies, and transferred the whole of his official zeal and energies to the Weights and Measures. The manner and reason of this must, however, be explained in a subsequent chapter.