.

.

Has your mother seen this ?" "Yes.

Neither she nor father have dared speak about it before us--" He made a gesture of quick despair, walked to the window and back.
"It's a terrible thing, Ailsa, to have mother feel as she does." "How could she feel otherwise ?" "I've done my best to explain to her----" "O Steve! _You_!--when it's a matter between her soul and God!" He said, reddening: "It's a matter of common-sense--I don't mean to insult mother--but--good Lord, a nation is a nation, but a state is only a state! I--hang it all--what's the use of trying to explain what is born in one----" "The contrary was born in your mother, Steve.

Don't ever talk to her this way.