"Mrs.Stephen Hatton speaks too plainly to be misunderstood.

Indeed her words enter the ears like darts." "Yes, she strips them to the naked truth.

If it be a fault, it is one easy to excuse." "I do not find it so." "I am sorry you will not go with me, for I shall have to give a good deal of this evening to Greenwood." "I expected that." "Go with me this afternoon, _do_, my dear! We can ride on to Harlow also." "I spent all yesterday with my mother." "Then, good-bye! I will be home in an hour." John found it very pleasant to ride through the village and up Hatton Hill again.

He thought the very trees bent their branches to greet him and that the linnets and thrushes sang together about his return.

Then he smiled at his foolish thought, yet instantly wondered if it might not be true, and thus fantastically reasoning, he came to the big gates of the Hall, and saw his mother watching for his arrival.
He took her hands and kissed her tenderly.