After she had gone up-stairs, Mathilde went down again to telephone Pete that she had made her decision.

She went boldly snapping electric switches, for her going was a sort of assertion of her right to independent action.

She would have hesitated even less if she had known how welcome her news was, how he had suffered since their parting.
On going home from his interview with her, he found his mother dressing to dine with Mr.Lanley, a party arranged before the unexpected arrival of Mrs.Baxter.The only part of dressing that delayed Mrs.Wayne was her hair, which was so long that the brushing of it took time.

In this process she was engaged when her son, in response to her answer, came into her room.
"How is Mr.Farron ?" she asked at once, and he, rather touched at the genuineness of her interest, answered her in detail before her next exclamation betrayed that it was entirely for the employer of Marty Burke that she was solicitous.

"Isn't it too bad he was taken ill just now ?" she said.
The bitterness and doubt from which Wayne was suffering were not emotions that disposed him to confidence.