“It wouldn’t leave her to sit alone and wonder when you’re going to drop with apoplexy,” he went on calmly.
He was almost brutal, and he knew it. It seemed the only way. To drive a new fact into that steel-chilled brain one had to use a sledge hammer. And Barnes realized that it was now or never.
“You—you think your mother is not happy?”
“Dad,” answered Barnes, “figure it out for yourself. Mother came from a green land—a land where even the fences are made of hawthorn; where even in the heart of London the sheep still nibble the grass; where acres of green grass are within walking distance of the Bank of England. The love of open spaces is in her blood. Yet you’ve taken her and shut her up here in this damned cage, and here you leave her all day long, only to come home at night with your face twitching. She isn’t doing any grumbling. She is isn’t that kind. I’ve never heard a word of complaint out of her. But I’ve eyes that aren’t covered up with sheet iron. When I saw her to-day I felt like helping her escape as though she were in prison.”
“Lord, boy!”
“What are you giving her?” demanded Barnes, pressing home his point. “Only this,” he answered, waving his hand about the apartments. “And yet she’s kept your books for you and stood by you for forty years. You remember your own boyhood. I’ve heard you tell about those fair days back on the farm. Why don’t you give her a bit of that to remember? Why don’t you chuck a few flowers and a ray of sunshine into her life? I’ve given her more than you have, myself; I’ve taken her out in the park. Why don’t you take her back to the best days of your life? It’s time you had a honeymoon. It’s time you lifted her face to the dew. It’s time you let the sun beat down upon her a while.”
The father had dropped his cigar. He fixed his worried eyes upon his son. He looked as though he were stunned. Barnes lowered his voice.
“I want you to see this, Dad,” he went on. “I want you to see it for her sake and your sake. I don’t think we have grown very far apart—you and I. If I’m not the son of your brain, I’m the son of your heart. I’ve been sitting by the side of an old man and he made me see that.”
The father met his boy’s eyes.
“It hurt to have you go, Dick,” he said.