Law went to him and shook him roughly.
"Stop that!" he said sternly. "Can't you try to be worthy of your boy?"
"But—but I wanted him to know how I have been trying, even when I couldn't quite make it. And now——"
"Perhaps he does know," Law spoke more softly, "perhaps he does."
Jo did not move, but her eyes seemed to reflect all the misery of her stricken country.
"Mam'selle, can you not help us?" Law spoke from his place beside the groaning Pierre.
"I—I'm afraid not, Mr. Law. Not just now." Poor Jo; for the first time in her life she was overpowered. "I somehow," she spoke as if to herself, "I somehow thought I understood how it felt when I saw the others. But I didn't; I didn't." Then she turned to Donelle. "Where are you going?" she asked.
"Mamsey, I'm going down to—to Tom's hut. It seems as if he will be there."
Then Jo bent her head.
"Go, child," she said with a break in her hard voice. "Go."