"You mistake. I was offered terms as well--generous,
oh, yes, very generous; but it was not that that impressed me--it was
their kindness--their admitting me into their domesticity--I have found
the mother as kind to me as to her own daughters. No airs of patronage;
they did not say, 'You are a foreigner; we cannot trust you;' they said,
'You are alone; come into our family, and be friends with us.' But not
at once; no, no; for at first I did not know any one--"
"I should think it would be easy for you to make friends anywhere," said
Francie, in her gentle fashion.
They did not linger long over that meal; it was hardly a time for
feasting; indeed, Maurice had gone down before the others, to hear the
nurse's report. She had nothing to say; the sick-room had been so still,
she had not even ventured in, hoping the patient was asleep.
That afternoon there were many callers; and Mangan, who went down to
such of them as wanted to have special intelligence, was pleased in a
way. "Well," he would say to himself, as he went up and down the stairs,
"the public have a little gratitude, after all, and even mere
acquaintances do think of you occasionally.
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