“I warned you,” she interrupted. “I warned you. I've done all I could for you. It isn't that I haven't seen through her. When she came to me at first with that made-up story of a baby! And all about loving me like her own mother. But I did what I could. I thought we might still make the best of a bad job. And then—. I might have known she couldn't leave Pip alone.... But for weeks I didn't dream. I wouldn't dream. Right under my nose. The impudence of it!”
Her voice broke. “Such a horrid mess! Such a hopeless, horrid mess!”
She wiped away a bright little tear....
“It's all alike. It's your way with us. All of you. There isn't a man in the world deserves to have a woman in the world. We do all we can for you. We do all we can to amuse you, we dress for you and we talk for you. All the sweet, warm little women there are! And then you go away from us! There never was a woman yet who pleased and satisfied a man, who did not lose him. Give you everything and off you must go! Lovers, mothers....”
It dawned upon Benham dimly that his mother's troubles did not deal exclusively with himself.
“But Amanda,” he began.
“If you'd looked after her properly, it would have been right enough. Pip was as good as gold until she undermined him.... A woman can't wait about like an umbrella in a stand.... He was just a boy.... Only of course there she was—a novelty. It is perfectly easy to understand. She flattered him.... Men are such fools.”
“Still—it's no good saying that now.”
“But she'll spend all your money, Poff! She'll break your back with debts. What's to prevent her? With him living on her! For that's what it comes to practically.”
“Well, what am I to do?”