We shall surely see you at home on Friday." John was so immensely proud of this news, that he went up the hill earlier than usual in order to give it to his mother.

And her attitude disappointed him.

She was singularly indifferent, he thought, and answered his excited narrative by a fervent wish that they "were safely back at Hatton." He wondered a little but let the circumstance pass.
"She has been worried about some household misdoing," he thought, and he tried during their dinner together to lead her back to her usual homely, frank cheerfulness.

He only very partially succeeded, so he lit a cigar and lay down on the sofa to smoke it.

And as his mother knit she lifted her eyes occasionally and they were full of anxious pity.