"And is that all she said?" he asked.
"That's all."
"Did you see your mother, Avis?"
"Yes, I did. She's not well, and I'm not to say anything about her."
"This letter was as much for your grandfather as your grandmother," explained Jacob; "and if she won't read it, then he must."
"He won't read it if she tells him not to," answered Avis. "He's against you, same as everybody else is against you, father."
Jacob did not argue upon the subject, but after two days of silence, during which no communication or message reached him, he went into Brent and entered the post-office.
Barlow Huxam was behind the counter and he grew red and puffed his cheeks when he saw Jacob.
"This is very inconvenient," he said, "I wish you wouldn't come here. Nothing can be gained—nothing whatever."
"I didn't want to come; but I wrote to Mrs. Huxam—a very vital letter which I imagined she would show to you. All she did was to return it to me unopened. That is senseless, because the position must be defined. We must know where we stand."