There was one little circumstance which specially touched that brother’s heart. On the Sunday after her return from her parting visit to her husband, Julia appeared at church in deep mourning, her children wearing the same; and at dinner she had put on a neat widow’s cap. Amos had rather expected that she would have treated her married life as a thing so entirely to be forgotten—a thing of misery and shame, a thing of the past to be henceforth to her and others as though it had never been, except so far as her children were concerned—that she would have continued to dress herself and her little ones as usual, so as not by any outward sign to remind those around her that she had suffered any loss, or recall their thoughts to the man who had brought nothing but degradation to herself and disgrace to her family. He was therefore deeply thankful to see that she had taken a different course; for it told of a subdued and chastened spirit, and of a willingness to bear patiently and meekly the burden which her own fault, in a measure at least, had laid upon her. Mr Huntingdon also appreciated her conduct in this matter, and, pressing her fondly to him as she was retiring to rest, kissed her tenderly, and whispered in her ear, as he looked lovingly into her tearful eyes, “Dear child, this is as it should be; you are right, I am sure, in adopting this dress; it would have been unworthy of you and unbecoming not to have done so.” Old Harry, however, was not quite of the same mind; but he would not wound any of the members of the family upstairs by giving expression to his feelings on the subject. But in the kitchen he spoke out his sentiments without any reserve. “Put herself and the children in mourning for such a scoundrel as him! Why, if it had been me, I’d have clothed myself and them in scarlet and gold, just to show how glad I was to be shut of such a scamp for good and all. But perhaps I’m wrong; they tell me the poor man repented at the last. Well, a good thing for him if he did, for I’m sure he’d a precious lot to repent of.”
And now Amos bent his mind and energies towards the accomplishment of that part of his life’s great purpose which lay yet nearer, if possible, to his heart than even his sister’s restoration to her father’s house and affection. His mother was still a stranger to her home;—how should he bring her back? He felt that he must deal in the matter with a gentle and cautious hand. His aunt and the old butler were the only members of the household who as yet knew of his desire and intention. Mr Huntingdon had come to acquiesce in his wife’s absence as a sad necessity, and it did not now occur to him to connect his daughter’s return with the possibility of its being directly or indirectly a link in the recovery of the mother from her mental disorder. Walter also never put the two things together. Indeed, the state of his mother was so distressing a subject, that he had come to act upon the conviction that the less he thought about it the better.
But what could Amos do? Turning matters over in his mind, it became an established purpose with him to bring about his mother’s perfect restoration to sanity without letting his father have any suspicion of what he was attempting. With all his love for that father, he could not help having a strong conviction that, were he to consult him in the matter, the attempt at restoration would probably prove a failure. Either Mr Huntingdon would take things into his own hands, and, acting with characteristic impetuosity and bluffness, would most likely hinder where he meant to help forward, or else he would fail perhaps to understand and appreciate his son’s views and methods of proceeding, and would prevent a successful issue by his impatience or interference. So Amos resolved that he would take the responsibility and mode of action on himself. Should he fail, his father would not have to suffer the pain of disappointment from that failure; should he succeed, he would have the happiness of bringing about a loving meeting again between those parents so dear to him, which would be to his father all the more delightful from its taking him by surprise. Secrecy, then, was an essential. No one must betray his purpose to his father. Therefore, when the family had all settled down peacefully, with the young widow sweetly and lovingly filling her place as a daughter and mother, Amos, one evening in the early part of the summer which followed his brother-in-law’s death, betook himself to the butler’s pantry.
“Harry,” he said, having seated himself on the closed lid of the plate chest, “I want just a word with you on a subject of great importance.”
“As many words as you like, my dear young master,” said the old man; “it’s always a privilege whenever I gets a visit from you, or dear Miss Julia as was, bless her. What a pity she ever changed Miss into Mrs; but perhaps some good man ’ll get her to change it into a better Mrs some day, and wipe the taste of that horrid cruel man’s name out of all our mouths.”
“I don’t know, Harry; things are better as they are at present. My dear sister’s trial has been blessed to her, I can see; she is being brought out by it decidedly on to the Lord’s side.”
“You’re right, Master Amos, you’re right; and I’m nothing but a stupid stumbling old donkey.—Now, please, sir, what’s this here important subject you wants to talk to me about?”
“Just this, Harry. You know that I want to get back my dear mother again among us, and I believe it can be done; but it will want a deal of wisdom and what people call ‘tact’ to bring it about. Now, I’m not going to speak to my father on the subject, because I think his feelings would so stir and excite him if I did, he would be so eager and anxious—it’s part of his nature, you know, and he cannot help it—that he might spoil all.”
“Just so, Master Amos; he’d just be going slap-bang about it, I daresay, and he’d drive the poor lady clean out of as many of her seven senses as she’d got still left, poor thing.”
“Something of that kind,” said Amos, smiling. “Well, you see, Harry, if I am to undertake the matter I must do it my own way; and it will require a great deal of care, and not a word must come out about it.”