But he needed no telling.  Whether he had divined her purpose, or whether it was natural to him to fly like a bird to his nest, he rushed upstairs and was in the room almost before his father had left the carriage She had the child in her hands when she heard him turn the lock of the door; but before he entered the boy had been laid in his cradle,—­and then she was in his arms.

For the first few minutes she was quite collected, not saying much, but answering his questions by a word or two.  Oh yes; she was well; and baby was well,—­quite well.  He, too, looked well, she said, though there was something of sadness in his face.  ’But I will kiss that away,—­so soon, so soon.’  She had always expected that he would come back long, long before the time that had been named.  She had been sure of it, she declared, because that it was impossible that so great injustice should be done.  But the last fortnight had been very long.  When those wicked people had been put in prison she had thought that then surely he would come.  But now he was there, with his arms round her, safe in his own home, and everything was well.  Then she lifted the baby up to be kissed again and again, and began to dance and spring in her joy.  Then, suddenly, she almost threw the child into his arms, and seated herself, covered her face with her hands and began to sob with violence.  When he asked her, with much embracing to compose herself, sitting close to her, kissing her again and again, she shook her head as it lay upon his shoulder, and then burst out into a fit of laughter.  ’What does it matter,’ she said after a while, as he knelt at her knees;—­’what does it matter?  My boy’s father has come back to him.  My boy has got his own name, and he is an honest true Caldigate; and no one again will tell me that another woman owns my husband, my own husband, the father of my boy.  It almost killed me, John, when they said that you were not mine.  And yet I knew that they said it falsely.  I never doubted for a moment.  I knew that you were my own, and that my boy had a right to his father’s name.  But it was hard to hear them say so, John.  It was hard to bear when my mother swore that it was so!’

At last they went down and found the old squire waiting for his breakfast.  ‘I should think,’ said he, ’that you would be glad to see a loaf of bread on a clean board again, and to know that you may cut it as you please.  Did they give you enough where you were?’

‘I didn’t think much about it, sir.’

‘But you must think about it now,’ said Hester.  ’To please me you must like everything; your tea, and your fresh eggs, and the butter and the cream.  You must let yourself be spoilt for a time just to compensate me for your absence.’

‘You have made yourself smart to receive him at any rate,’ said the squire, who had become thoroughly used to the black gown which she had worn morning, noon, and evening while her husband was away.