He dazzled her with his romantic mendacity so that she saw him mixing in exclusive Society, at regimental dinners, rubbing shoulders with officers in their red mess jackets, with ladies in gleaming satin, and, overcome by the inadequacy of anything that she could offer in return, she could only say weakly:
'I know there's not much of that at home, son. But I'll I'll do my best to attend to you, to make you comfortable here.' He made no reply and, at his eloquent silence, she hesitated, dismayed that the conversation should languish in this fashion, as though after two years he had nothing to to tell her, no eagerness to discover how she had fared in his absence.
'Did ye have a good voyage home?' she ventured at last.
'Tolerable! Quite tolerable,' he admitted. 'Weather was good but 1 got very bored towards the end. I left the ship at Marseilles.'
'That was where I sent ye the your money,' she remarked haltingly. 'Ye got it safe?'
'Yes, I got it all right,' he replied negligently. 'Took a devilish age to come through though. Long to come and quick to go.'
'I suppose ye had some grave need of a' that siller, Matt?'
'That's right,' he replied. 'I needed it that was enough, wasn't it?'
'True enough, Matt,' she answered. 'I knew from your wire you had sore need of it. But it was such a sum of money.'
'Sum of fiddlesticks,' he retorted angrily. 'You would think it wasn't my own the way you talk. I worked for it, didn't I? I didn't rob ye for it. It was mine to spend as I liked.'
'Spend,' she echoed; 'ye needed it for something more than jus’ the spendin' of it.'
He burst into a high laugh.
'Mamma! You'll be the death of me! You know I came back overland. How could a man get along without a little pocket money?' He broke off and regarded her with mock solemnity. 'I tell you what I did, Mamma. I went around all the blind beggars in Paris and shared out the cash amongst them. That was the last little fling I had in gay Paree before getting home to this excitin' spot.'
She was totally submerged, and the vision of Paris rose before her, indicating clearly that she had demeaned herself, thrust herself into the clutches of unchristian money-lenders for the sole purpose of sending him with a full purse into the unchaste delights of a wicked city. For what wild and reckless extravagances on his part would she be compelled to pay tribute over the next two years? Despite her burning love she said reproachfully, and at the grave risk of offending him:
'Oh! Matt, I would rather ye hadna visited such a like place. I'm not saying you did wrong with the money, dear, but that that city must be full of temptations for a young man. I'm afraid it was a mistaken thing to do and I'm sure Agnes would think the same.'
Again he laughed rudely.
'What Agnes thinks or says means as much to me now as the squeak of an old boot. I know what she would think, all right, and as for her talk, there's too much hymn book about that for my taste. I'll never sit on her sofa again. No! She's not the woman for me, Mamma! I'm finished with her.'
'Matt! Matt!' burst out Mamma. 'Don't talk like that. Ye can't mean what you say. Agnes is devoted to you.'
'Devoted!' he retorted. 'Let her keep that for them that wants it. What else has she got? Nothing! Why,' he continued expansively, 'I've met women with more in their little finger than she has in her whole body. Charm! Vivacity! Life!'
Mrs. Brodie was horrified and, as she gazed at her son appealingly, a sudden thought struck her.
'Ye havena broken the pledge, have ye, son?' she quavered anxiously.
He looked at her queerly, asking himself if the old girl thought he was still at her apron strings. Perhaps he had been too unguarded with her.
'Just a spot of Hollands occasionally,' he replied smoothly. 'We have to take it out there, you know, for the good of the liver.'
She immediately visioned his liver as a dry, absorbent sponge, driving him to imbibe spirits to saturate it, and feeling the mercy of his return to what was, in a double sense, a more temperate climate, she returned bravely to the charge.
'Agnes is a good girl, Matt! She would be the salvation of any man. She's waited on you faithfully. It would break her heart if ye gave her up now.'
'All right, Mamma,' he replied suavely. 'Don't worry! Don't get excited! I'll see her if you like.' It suddenly occurred to him that, imbued with his more potent worldly experience, it might be amusing to see Miss Moir again.
'That's good of you, son. You go and see her. I knew you would do that for me.' She was at once relieved, feeling the power of her love over him, knowing that when the young people came together everything would be right again. If he had strayed, Agnes would bring him back to the narrow pathway, and now hastily, for fear he might suddenly take back his promise, she passed on, reclaiming him further.
'I'm afraid you have had a very gay life out there, Matt. I don't blame ye, my boy, but it would be difficult to keep your mind fixed on the more godly matters of life.' His vague allusions had shocked her; she must know more, be at all costs reassured. And she continued interrogatively: 'Still, you did read your chapter every day, didn't you, son?'
He moved restlessly in his chair, glanced at her resentfully.
'That sounds just like old Waldie, Mamma,' he replied impatiently. 'You'll be asking me if I walked down Chowringee Road with a text slung round my neck or thumped a Bible out on the maidan in the evenings.'
'Don't, Matt! Don't! I don't like to hear you talk so lightly,' trembled Mamma. Far from allaying her suspicions, he was increasing them. 'Maybe you'll go to the meeting again with Agnes, now you're back. You mean so much to me now. I want ye to be happy and there's never any happiness apart from goodness in this life, dear.'
'What do you know about happiness?' he retorted. 'You always looked miserable enough before.'
'You'll go to the meeting with Agnes, won't ye, Matt?' she persisted. 'Try just the once to please me.'
'I'll see,' he replied evasively. 'I'll go if I want to go but don't sermonise me any more. I don't like it; I'm not used to it and I won't have it.'
'I know that you'll go for my sake,' she whispered, placing her worn hand on his knee. 'Ye ken that Mary's away now and that I've nobody but you. You were aye my own boy!'
'I knew Mary was away, all right,' he snickered. 'Where is she since her little accident?'
'Hush! Hush! Don't speak like that,' she returned hastily. 'That's shameful talk!' She paused, shocked, then added, 'She's in London, we think, but her name's forbidden in the house. For goodness sake, don't talk that way before your father.'
He threw off her caressing hand.
'What do I care for Father,' he blustered. 'I'm a man now. I can do what I like. I'm not afraid of him any longer.'
'I know that, Matt! You're a fine big man,' she wheedled, “but your father's had an awfu' time since ye left. I'll rely on ye not to try his temper too much. Til just get the brunt of it if ye do. Don't tell him any of these things you've told me. He's that touchy nowadays he mightna like it. He's worried business is not what it used to be.'
'It serves him right,' he said sulkily, as he rose, feeling that she had, as usual, rubbed him the wrong way. 'You would think I cared an anna piece what happened to him. Let him try any tricks on me and it'll be the worse for him.' He made his way to the door, adding, 'I'm going up for a wash now.'
'That's right, Matt! Your own room's prepared. I've kept it ready for you since the day ye left. Not a soul has been in it and not a hand has touched it but my own. The bed has been well aired for you too. You go and freshen yourself up and Til lay the tea while you're upstairs.' She watched him eagerly, awaiting some expression of appreciation for her forethought, but he was still offended at her and went into the hall without a word. She heard him pick up a bag and march upstairs and, straining her ears, listened to every movement he made above. She heard him go into Grandma's room, heard this new, swaggering laugh of his as he greeted the old woman with a boisterous flourish. Despite her confused disquiet, the sounds which he made above comforted her and she became filled with a glowing sense of gratitude at the feeling of his proximity; she had her own son actually in the house beside her after all these weary months of separation. She breathed a prayer of gratitude as she quickly began to
