"Well, it is a pity that you did not, for I've known ever since that day that Geraldine Melody is the only girl I shall ever marry."
His mother's heart beat faster as she marked the expression in those steady, young eyes.
There was silence for a space between them. She was the first to speak, and she did so with a cool, unsmiling demeanor which reminded him of childhood days when he was in disgrace.
"Then you care nothing for what sort of mind and character are possessed by your future wife. The skin-deep part is all that interests you."
"That's what she said," he responded quickly. "I suggested that she put affairs in a shape where it would be of no use for an irritating conscience to try to make trouble. I urged her to marry me this afternoon before we came home."
Mrs. Barry's nonchalance deserted her with a rush. Her face became crimson.
"How—how criminal!" she ejaculated.
"That's what she said," returned Ben. "She asked if I hadn't a mother. I told her I had a glorious one; and she just looked at me and said: 'And you would do that to her just because I have nice eyes.'"
Mrs. Barry bit her lip and did not love the waif the more that she had been able to defend her.
"What is the use of being a mother!" she ejaculated. "What is the use of expending your whole heart's love on a boy for his lifetime, when he will desert you at the first temptation!"