After a while his mother came in and gently touched him.
“My dear,” she urged, “you mustn’t brood over it. Lisle’s condition’s satisfactory. As it’s some hours since we got Nasmyth’s message, I sent a man over and he has just come back.”
“I’m glad you sent,” Gladwyne responded. “It was thoughtful. I forgot; but I’ve been badly troubled.”
She sat down near him, with her hand laid caressingly on his arm.
“It’s natural; I understand and feel for you. I wouldn’t have liked you to be indifferent; but you mustn’t make too much of it. The man is strong, he will soon be about again, and you couldn’t have saved him. Everybody I’ve seen so far has given me that impression. Of course, I didn’t need their assurances, but I was glad to see they exonerated and sympathized with you.”
Her confidence hurt him; he had still a sense of shame, and he found no great comfort in what she told him. His mother was generally loved, and he wondered how far his neighbors had been influenced by a desire to save her pain.
“It looks as if Lisle deserves their commiseration more than I do,” he answered with a smile which cost him an effort.
“It is being shown. I noticed nearly everybody in the neighborhood motoring or driving toward the house during the afternoon. Millicent’s with Nasmyth now, helping to arrange things. It’s wonderful what a favorite Lisle has become in so short a time; but I own that I find something very likable about him.”
Gladwyne moved impatiently. His hatred of the man was as strong as ever, and his mother’s attempts at consolation irritated him. Lisle was too popular; first Bella and now Millicent had taken him in hand.
“Millicent,” Mrs. Gladwyne went on, “is an exceptional woman in every desirable respect. I think you have long been as convinced of that as I am.”