"If you were to go wrong! I know what the temptations of a London life must be. Especially to a young man who has, so to say, no home."
"I steer clear of them. Mother darling, I am telling you the truth," he added earnestly. "Do you think we could ever fall away from such training as yours? No. Look at what William is; look at Gar; and for myself, though I don't like to boast, I assure you, the Anti-evil-doing Society—if you have ever heard of that respected body—might hoist me on a pedestal at Exeter Hall as their choicest model. You don't like my joking! Believe me, then, in all seriousness, that your sons will never fail you. We did not battle on in our duty as boys, to forget it as men. You taught us the bravest lesson that a mother can teach, or a child learn, when you contrived to impress upon us the truth that God is our witness always, ever present."
Jane's eyes filled with tears: not of grief. She knew that Frank was speaking from his heart.
"And you are getting on well?"
"What with stray briefs that come to me, and my literary work, and the fellowship, I make six or seven hundred a year already."
"I hope you are not spending it all?"
"That I am not. I put by all I can. It is true that I don't live upon bread and potatoes six days in the week, as you know we have done; but I take care that my expenses are moderate. It is keeping hare-brained follies at arm's-length that enables me to save."
"And now, Frank, for another question. What made you send me that hundred-pound note?"
"I shall send you another soon," was all Frank's answer. "The idea of my gaining a superfluity of money, and sending none to my darling mother!"
"But indeed I don't know what to do with it, Frank. I do not require it."