“It was on 'The Status of the Emigrant,'” she responded instantly, thereby proving that she was his mother.
“And it touched the Rights of Privacy,” he added, laughing, “which do not seem to exist in St. Louis boarding-houses.”
“In the eyes of your misguided profession, statesmen and authors and emigrants and other public charges have no Rights of Privacy,” said she. “Mr. Longfellow told me once that they were to name a brand of flour for him, and that he had no redress.”
“Have you, too, been up before Miss Crane's Commission?” he asked, with amused interest.
His mother laughed.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
“They have some expert members,” he continued. “This Mrs. Abner Reed could be a shining light in any bar. I overheard a part of her cross-examination. She—she had evidently studied our case—”
“My dear,” answered Mrs. Brice, “I suppose they know all about us.” She was silent a moment, “I had so hoped that they wouldn't. They lead the same narrow life in this house that they did in their little New England towns. They—they pity us, Stephen.”
“Mother!”
“I did not expect to find so many New Englanders here—I wish that Mr. Whipple had directed us elsewhere-”