“You forget that the first families in all civilizations have kept themselves alive and at the summit by intermarriage with good, clean, rich blood of people whom they have considered beneath them.”

“But certainly my family is not among these.  It is certainly alive and it is certainly not dying out.  I cannot discuss the subject with you, if you once begin that argument.  Are you going to call on her?”

“Certainly.  It was Dent’s wish and it is right that I should.”

“Then I think I shall go with you, Rowan.  Dent said she was coming to see me; but I think I should rather go to see her.  Whenever I wished to leave, I could get away, but if she came here, I couldn’t.”

“When should you like to go?”

“Oh, don’t hurry me!  I shall need time—­a great deal of time!  Do you suppose they have a parlor?  I am afraid I shall not shine in the kitchen in comparison with the tins.”

She had a wry face; then her brow cleared and she added with relief: 

“But I must put this whole trouble out of my mind at present!  It is too close to me, I cannot even see it.  I shall call on the girl with you and then I shall talk quietly with Dent.  Until then I must try to forget it.  Besides, I got up this morning with something else on my mind.  It is not Dent’s unwisdom that distresses me.”

Her tone indicated that she had passed to a more important topic.  If any one had told her that her sons were not equally dear, the wound of such injustice would never have healed.  In all that she could do for both there had never been maternal discrimination; but the heart of a woman cannot help feeling things that the heart of a mother does not; and she discriminated as a woman.  This was evident now as she waived her young son’s affairs.

“It is not Dent that I have been thinking of this morning,” she repeated.  “Why is it not you that come to tell me of your engagement?  Why have you not set Dent an example as to the kind of woman he ought to marry?  How many more years must he and I wait?”

They were seated opposite each other.  He was ready for riding out on the farm, his hat on his crossed knees, gloves and whip in hand.  Her heart yearned over him as he pulled at his gloves, his head dropped forward so that his face was hidden.

“Now that the subject has come up in this unexpected way, I want to tell you how long I have wished to see you married.  I have never spoken because my idea is that a mother should not advise unless she believes it necessary.  And in your case it has not been necessary.  I have known your choice, and long before it became yours, it became mine.  She is my ideal among them all.  I know women, Rowan, and I know she is worthy of you and I could not say more.  She is-high-minded and that quality is so rare in either sex.  Without it what is any wife worth to a high-minded man?  And I have watched her.  With all her pride and modesty I have discovered her secret—­she loves you.  Then why have you waited?  Why do you still wait?”