"And yet, do you know, I think she has lately suffered a shock and a disappointment? I am nearly certain that she had cherished hopes which included us both. I did not realize until very lately indeed that she too was being deceived; else I must have insisted on her being taken into confidence."
Alice's merry laugh astonished and almost vexed him, her first words were more surprising still.
"So you thought she was disappointed? What bats men are, to be sure!"
"What do you mean? Do you not know that to my mother you are the one young woman?"
"Oh, indeed I do, and rejoice in it. But I know also, my dear simpleton, that she is almost deliriously happy at this moment over her late discovery. I know she loves me almost as she could a daughter, and I also know that she loves me more, oh, far more, because her son Erskine is a brother to me instead of—something else."
His puzzled look made her laugh again.
But after that he studied his mother from a new standpoint. Certainly she was very fond of Alice and was about to lose her; yet certainly she was happy—happier than he had ever known her to be.
"Mothers are queer!" was his grave conclusion.