"You think the mare is the best thing in my possession,eh?""Ye--es!Don't you?"
"I believe I do."As Mr.Evringham spoke,this kinship of taste induced him to turn his face toward the one beside him.Instantly he found himself kissed full on the lips,and while he was recovering from the shock,Jewel proceeded:--"God has given you so many things,grandpa,that's why it surprised me to have you look so sorry when I first came."The child examined his countenance critically."I don't think you look so sorry as you used to.I know you must have lots of error to meet,and perhaps,"lowering her voice to an extra gentleness,"perhaps you don't know how to remember every minute that God is a very present help in trouble.
Mother says that even grown-up people are just finding out about it."As she paused Mr.Evringham hesitated,somewhat embarrassed under the blue eyes."We all have plenty to learn,I dare say,"he returned vaguely.
He had more than once wished that he had taken more notice of Harry's wife during his opportunity at the hotel.He had looked upon the interview as a distasteful necessity to be disposed of as cursorily as possible.
His son had married beneath him,some working girl probably,whose ability to support herself had turned out to be a deliverance for her father-in-law when the ne'er-do-well husband shirked his responsibilities;and Mr.Evringham had gone to the hotel that evening intending to make it clear that although he performed a favor for his son,there were no results to follow.
His granddaughter's fearlessness,courtesy,and affection had forced him to wonder as to the mother who had fostered these qualities.He remembered the eloquence of his son's face when Harry expressed the wish that he might know Julia,and a vague admiration and respect were being born in the broker's heart for the deserted woman who had worked with hand and brain for her child--his grandchild was the way he put it--with such results as he saw.