his
brought him to his senses. He says to me, 'Mater, I've not met Mr. Sage,
you know, but from what I hear of him it would be irrational to place
myself in a position where I should have to experience emotion of any
sort at news of the old gentleman's taking-off. An event so agreeable to
the natural order of God's providence, so plausible, so seemly, should
not be endowed with any arbitrary and artificial significance,
especially of a monetary character--one must be able to view it
absolutely without emotion of any sort, either of regret or
rejoicing--one must remain conscientiously indifferent as to when this
excellent old gentleman passes on to the Golden Shore'--but you know
the breezy way in which Harold will sometimes talk. Only now he seems
really sobered by this new attachment--"

"But if he is already married--"

"Yes, yes--if you can call it married--a ceremony performed by one of
those common magistrates--quite without the sanction of the Church--but
all that is past, and he is now ready to marry one who can be a wife to
him--only my conscience did hurt me a little, and brother Cyrus said to
me, 'You see Linford and tell him I sent you. Linford is a man of
remarkable breadth, of rare flexibility.'"

"Yes, and of course Allan was emphatically discouraging." Again she was
recalling the fervour with which he had declared himself on this point
on that last day when he actually made her believe in him.

"Oh, the Doctor is broad! He is what I should call adaptable. He said by
all means to extricate Harold from this wretched predicament, not only
on account of the property interests involved, but on account of his
moral and spiritual welfare; that, while in spirit he holds deathlessly
to the indissolubility of the marriage tie, still it is unreasonable to
suppose that God ever joined Harold to a person so much his inferior,
and that we may look forward to the real marriage--that on which the
sanctity of the home is truly based--when the law has freed him from
this boyish entanglement. Oh, my dear, I feel so relieved to know that
my boy can have a wife from his own class--and still have it right up
there--with Him, you know!" she concluded with an upward glance, as
Nancy watched her with eyes grown strangely quiet, almost
steely--watched her as one might watch an ant. She had the look of one
whose will had been made suddenly to stand aside by some great inner
tumult.

When her caller had gone she dropped back i