"One," he said. "Two!" and his hand dropped at his side with his weapon in it, for at the door stood his mother. In an instant she had fallen upon her knees and dragged herself toward him and was clinging to his hand.
"No—Jem!" she panted. "No, not that, my dear—God forbid!"
He staggered back though she still clung to him.
"How," he faltered,—"how did you come here?"
"The Lord led me," she sobbed. "He put it into my heart and showed me the way, an' you had forgot the door, Jem—thank God!"
"You—saw—what I was going to do?"
"What you was goin' to do, but what you'll never do, Jem, an' me to live an' suffer when it's done—me as you've been so good an' such a comfort to."
In the dim light she knelt sobbing at his feet.
"Let me sit down," he said. "And sit down nigh me. I've summat to tell you."