"Changed toward us—toward me?"
"I've changed toward the whole question—chiefly because Mr. Whitelaw's been so kind to me."
"I don't suppose his kindness makes any difference in the facts. If you're our son you're our son whether he's kind to you or not."
"His kindness may not make any difference in the facts, but it does make a difference in my attitude."
"Mine can't be influenced so easily."
Though he wondered what she meant by that he decided to find out indirectly. "No, I suppose not. After all, you're the one to whom it's all more vital than to anybody else."
"Because I'm the mother? I don't see that. They talk about mother-instinct as if it was so sure; but—" She swung round on him with sudden, unexpected flame—"but if they'd been put to as many tests as I've been they'd find out. Why, almost any child can seem as if he might have been the baby you haven't seen for a few years. You forget. You lose the power either to recognize or to be sure that you don't recognize. If anyone tries hard enough to persuade you...."
"Has anyone tried to persuade you—about me?"
He began to see from whence Tad and Lily had drawn the stormy elements in their natures. "Not in so many words perhaps; but when some one very close to you is convinced...."