Mrs. Varrick looked at her keenly.
"A man never has but one love in a life-time," she said, impressively.
A fortnight had barely passed since Jessie had been under that roof, and yet every one of the household noticed the difference in handsome Hubert Varrick, and spoke about it. He was growing gayer and more debonair than in the old days, when he was paying court to the beautiful Gerelda Northrup. Of all subjects, the only one which he would not discuss with his mother was the future of Jessie Bain.
She had on one occasion asked him, with seeming carelessness, how long he intended to care for this girl who was an utter stranger to him, and suggested that, since she would not go to school, his responsibility ought to cease.
"I have bound myself to look after her until she is eighteen," he answered.
"I want to have a little talk with you, Hubert, on that subject," she said. "Will you listen to me a few moments?"
"As many as you like, mother," he answered.
"I want to ask you if you have ever thought over what a wrong step you are taking in giving this girl a taste of a life she can never expect to continue after she leaves here?"
"You should be glad that she has a little sunshine, mother."
"It is wrong to place a girl in a brilliant sunshine for a few brief days, and then plunge her into gloom for the rest of her life."