At mealtimes when he opened his lips it was either to snap at Charlie or Lucy, or to snarl at his wife, whose patience astonished Ned, and who never answered except by a smile or murmured excuse.

The lad was almost as far separated from her now as from his stepfather.

She treated him as if he only were to blame for the quarrel which had arisen.

They had never understood each other, and while she was never weary of making excuses for her husband, she could make none for her son.

In the knowledge that the former had much to vex him she made excuses for him even in his worst moods.