Anyhow, mother, I really have meant well, and I hope you will think of me kindly after I have gone." "You may be sure I shall do that, Ned," his mother said, weeping again.
"I have no doubt the fault has been partly mine too, but you see women don't understand boys, and can't make allowances for them." And so Ned kissed his mother for the first time since the day when she had returned home from her wedding tour, and mother and son parted on better terms than they had done for very many months, and Ned went with a lightened heart to prepare his lessons for the next day..