“Lots of things, my boy ... and perhaps nothing.... Mamma feels so lonely ... with no one about her ... except you....”
He started, struck by what she had said: it was almost the same words that his father had used that afternoon.
“My boy, will you always stay with me? You won’t go away, like everybody?...”
“Come, Mummy, you’ve got Granny and Uncle Gerrit and Uncle Paul.”
“Yes, they are nice,” she said, softly.
And she thought:
“I shall lose him, later, when he’s grown up.... I know that I shall lose him....”
It made her feel very weak and helpless; and she began to cry....
He knelt down beside her and, in a stern voice, forbade her to be so excitable, forbade her to cry about nothing....
It was heavenly to have him laying down the law like that. And she thought: