"Scarcely, mother," he said. And then he told her of the times they had met, and of what he had said and what she had said. He told her, too, of the rumours concerning Ned Wilson, and of his hopes to make her his wife.
"And he's your enemy, too?"
Paul nodded, and his eyes became dark with anger as he thought of the past.
"Paul," she said at length. "I live only for you now, only for you! Your enemies are my enemies; your friends are my friends! Those you love, I love; and those you hate, I hate! Whether you're right or whether you're wrong, my laddie, I love you!"
"Who ever I love, mother," he said, "it makes no difference between me and you, and my home must ever be yours."
"Ay, I dinna ken about that," she replied, lapsing into the speech of her girlhood. "But that doesna matter. Paul, I must see thy lass. You must find out when next she comes to Brunford, and I must see her. And you shall have her, too; whatever stands in the way must be removed!"
A little later he kissed her good-night at her bedroom door, and her words seemed to him like a prophecy.