Alexander was a great favourite with Mr. Lytton, who took him to ride every morning; Mrs. Lytton preferred James, who was a comfortable child to nurse; but Mrs. Mitchell was the declared slave of her lively nephew, and sent her coach for him on Saturday mornings.  As for Hugh Knox, he never ceased to whittle at the boy’s ambition and point it toward a great place in modern letters.  Had he been born with less sound sense and a less watchful mother, it is appalling to think what a brat he would have been; but as it was, the spoiling but fostered a self-confidence which was half the battle in after years.

Hamilton never returned.  His letters to his wife spoke always of the happiness of their final reunion, of belief in the future.  His brothers had sent him money, and he hoped they would help him to recover his fortunes.  But two years passed and he was still existing on a small salary, his hopes and his impassioned tenderness were stereotyped.  Rachael’s experience with Hamilton had developed her insight.  She knew that man requires woman to look after her own fuel.  If she cannot, he may carry through life the perfume of a sentiment, and a tender regret, but it grows easy and more easy to live without her.  It was a long while before she forced her penetrating vision round to the certainty that she never should see Hamilton again, and then she realized how strong hope had been, that her interest in herself was not dead, that her love must remain quick through interminable years of monotony and humiliation.  For a time she was so alive that she went close to killing herself, but she fought it out as she had fought through other desperate crises, and wrenched herself free of her youth, to live for the time when her son’s genius should lift him so high among the immortals that his birth would matter as little as her own hours of agony.  But the strength that carried her triumphantly through that battle was fed by the last of her vitality, and it was not long before she knew that she must die.

Alexander knew it first.  The change in his mother was so sudden, the earthen hue of her white skin, the dimming of her splendid eyes, spoke so unmistakably of some strange collapse of the vital forces, that it seemed to the boy who worshipped her as if all the noises of the Universe were shrieking his anguish.  At the same time he fought for an impassive exterior, then bolted from the house and rode across the Island for a doctor.  The man came, prescribed for a megrim, and Alexander did not call him again; nor did he mention his mother’s condition to the rest of the family.  She was in the habit of remaining in her rooms for weeks at a time, and she had her own attendants.  Mrs. Lytton was an invalid, and Peter Lytton, while ready to give of his bounty to his wife’s sister, had too little in common with Rachael to seek her companionship.  Alexander felt the presence of death too surely to hope, and was determined to have his mother to himself during the time that remained.  He confided in Hugh Knox, then barely left the apartments.