HUGH'S WRATH
"DO you mean to say, mother, that he wouldn't see you?"
"Yes, Hugh, I was turned away like a stranger from your grandfather's door."
"Then he's a wickeder old sinner than I thought he was, and I'm ashamed of belonging to him."
"That appears to be a mutual feeling, my son; on that one point you and your grandfather evidently agree."
"He shall never have the chance of insulting you again, mother. We shall soon be big enough to work for you, and then you needn't be afraid of anything or anybody."
The lad who spoke thus impetuously looked up into his mother's face as though for her dear sake he would war with the whole world.
"Never mind, Hughie boy," she answered soothingly. "It was a long journey for nothing, but as he wouldn't answer my letters, what else could I do?
"Ah well," she added, "so long as I have my children, and health and strength to work for them, I am not afraid," but nevertheless, though the mother uttered these brave words, there was a tremor of weariness and disappointment in her voice.
She had anticipated so much from a personal interview with Sir Matthew Rose—her father-in-law—but now all her cherished hopes were dashed to the ground.