He said that he had a letter to write. Mrs. Andinnian gave a dash at the bell and ordered Hewitt to place ink and paper before Sir Karl. When tea came in she spoke a few words--asking whether he would take sugar and such like--but, that excepted, maintained her silence. Afterwards, she sat at the fire again in her arm-chair; buried in disturbed thought; and then she rose to pace the room with uncertain steps, like one who is racked by anxious perplexity. At first Karl felt both annoyed and vexed, for he thought she was making more of the matter than she need have done; but soon he began to doubt whether she had not some trouble upon her apart from him and his concerns. A word, that unwittingly escaped her, confirmed him in this.
"Mother," he said, "you seem to be in great distress of your own: for I cannot believe that any proceedings of mine would thus disturb you."
"I am, Karl. I am."
"Will you not let me share it, then?--and, if possible, soothe it? You will find me a true son."
Mrs. Andinnian came back to her seat and replied calmly. "If you could help me in any way, Karl, you should hear it. But you cannot--you cannot, that I can see. Man is born to trouble, you know, as the sparks fly upwards."
"I thought that I had offended you: at least, pained you by my coming marriage. It grieved me very much."
"My trouble is my own," she answered.
Karl could not imagine what it could be. He tried to think of various causes--just as we all do in a similar case--and rejected them again. She had always been a strangely independent, secretive woman: and such women, given to act with the daring independence of man, but possessing not man's freedom of power, may at times drift into troubled seas. Karl greatly feared it must be something of this kind. Debt? Well, he did not think it could be debt. He had never known of any outlets of expense: and surely, if this were so, his mother would apply to him to release her. But, still the idea kept coming back again: for he felt sure she had not given the true reason for wishing to keep him away from Foxwood, and he could not think of any other trouble. Sunk in these thoughts, he happened to raise his glance and caught his mother's sharp eyes inquisitively fixed on him.
"What are you deliberating upon, Karl?"
"I was wondering what your care could be."