“My God, it is hard!” he groaned. And all the unshed tears that his eager interest in her presence and his kindling anger the night before had kept back now blinded him.
He did not notice his door softly open, nor know his mother was near until she placed her hand gently on his shoulder. He looked up at her face full of tender sympathy, and poured out to her his trouble in a torrent of hot rebellious words.
“What have I done to be treated like a dog in this way?” he ended with a voice trembling with protest.
“Perhaps you have offended the General in some way?”
“Impossible. I’ve been the soul of deference to him.”
“He’s a very proud man when his vanity is touched, are you sure of it?”
“As sure as that I live. No, some scoundrel has interfered between us and in some unaccountable way covered me with infamy in the General’s eyes.”
“But who could have done it?”
“I used my utmost power of persuasion to get it from her. But she would not tell me. I have been stabbed in the dark.”
“Whom do you suspect? She has a dozen suitors.”