"Why, these things must have cost you such a lot of money. I don't need them. I have lived in poverty all my life, and you're making a lady of me!"
"Of course I am, mother!" And he laughed a glad laugh. "Of course I am! Everyone in the town shall respect and love you."
"And you've done all this for me?"
"All because I wanted to see you with me, mother. All because I wanted you to be happy. I've only you and you've only me. And don't fear about the money. In spite of everything I've been very successful, and I can afford all I've bought, aye, and more. I've only got one servant for you, mother, but, of course, you'll want others. Only I didn't know how to choose them, and I thought you might like to do it yourself."
"I want no servants, Paul!" she said. "I want to do everything for you with my own hands. I want to cook for you, and scrub for you, and wash for you, and live for you!"
"Yes, mother. But I don't wish to make you a slave, and so, whatever you say, you must have help to do all the hard work. I am going to make you very happy here. Do you like the house?"
"Like it!" she replied. "It's a paradise, my boy! Just a paradise!"
He called the servant to him, and told her to take his mother to her room, and then to have the evening meal ready.
A little later they sat in the dining-room, and for the first time Paul broke down. He was not an emotional man, nor one who gave way to weakness, but when he sat there in his own house with his mother by his side, and realised that they would be able to live together, that he would have a companion for the lonely evenings, and that he would be able to brighten his mother's life, the great deeps of his nature were aroused. It seemed to him as though something, which had been long dead in his being, had burst forth into life.
"I'm too happy to eat!" she said at length. "I will put away these things and then we can talk."