He could not keep the mother and her baby a prisoner in such a condition as this.
Then there came dinner.

Let misfortunes be what they may, dinner will come.

The old man crawled down-stairs, and Hester was invited into the dining-room.

'No,' she said.

'If you choose to send it to me here, because of baby, I will eat.' Then, neither would Mrs.Bolton go to her husband; but both of them, seated in their high-backed arm-chairs, ate their food with their plates upon their laps.
During this time Caldigate still remained outside, but in vain.