"Ah, I dare say he knows more than we do. What I can't get over is the way he spoke about his poor father."
"Well—I wouldn't say it to Emma, but Fulleymore does drink. Like a fish he does."
(It was his sacrifice to honesty.)
"But Randall was wild. He didn't quite know what he was saying. Poor chap! It's hit him harder than he thinks."
Ranny, alone with his mother, put his arm round her neck and kissed her. (She had gone into her room and returned dressed, ready to go back with him to Southfields.)
"I'm sorry, Mother, if I hurt you."
"Never mind, Ranny, I know how hurt you must have been before you could do it. It was what you said about your Father, dear. But there—you've always been good to him no matter what he's been."
"Is he very bad, Mother?"
"He is. I don't know, I'm sure, how I'm going to leave him; unless he can manage with Mabel and Mr. Ponting. She's a good girl, Mabel. And he's got a kind heart, Ranny, that young man."