‘If I say that, I’m quite sure she won’t come.’

Richard waxed in anger.

’But she shall come!  Go and say I want to see her, and that if she doesn’t come down I’ll force the door.  There’ll have to be an end to this damned foolery.  I’ve got no time to spend humbugging.  It’s four o’clock, and I have letters to write before dinner.  Tell her I must see her, and have done with it.’

Alice went upstairs with small hope of success.  She knocked twice before receiving an answer.

‘Mother, are you there?’

‘What do you want?’ came back in a voice of irritation.

’Dick’s here, and wants to speak to you.  He says he must see you; it’s something very important.’

‘I’ve nothing to do with him,’ was the reply.

‘Will you see him if he comes up here?’

‘No, I won’t.’

Alice went down and repeated this.  After a moment’s hesitation Mutimer ascended the stairs by threes.  He rapped loudly at the bedroom door.  No answer was vouchsafed.

‘Mother, you must either open the door or come downstairs,’ he cried with decision.  ‘This has gone on long enough.  Which will you do?’

‘I’ll do neither,’ was the angry reply.  ’What right have you to order me about, I’d like to know?  You mind your business, and I’ll mind mine.’

’All right.  Then I shall send for a man at once, and have the door forced.’

Mrs. Mutimer knew well the tone in which these words were spoken; more than once ere now it had been the preliminary of decided action.  Already Richard had reached the head of the stairs, when he heard a key turn, and the bedroom door was thrown open with such violence that the walls shook.  He approached the threshold and examined the interior.

There was only one noticeable change in the appearance of the bedroom since he had last seen it.  The dressing-table was drawn near to the fire, and on it were a cup and saucer, a few plates, some knives, forks, and spoons, and a folded tablecloth.  A kettle and a saucepan stood on the fender.  Her bread and butter Mrs. Mutimer kept in a drawer.  All the appointments of the chamber were as clean and orderly as could be.

The sight of his mother’s face all but stilled Richard’s anger; she was yellow and wasted; her hair seemed far more grizzled than he remembered it.  She stood as far from him as she could get, in an attitude not devoid of dignity, and looked him straight in the face.  He closed the door.

‘Mother, I’ve not come here to quarrel with you,’ Mutimer began, his voice much softened.  ’What’s done is done, and there’s no helping it.  I can understand you being angry at first, but there’s no sense in making enemies of us all in this way.  It can’t go on any longer—­neither for your sake nor ours.  I want to talk reasonably, and to make some kind of arrangement.’

‘You want to get me out o’ the ‘ouse.  I’m ready to go, an’ glad to go.  I’ve earnt my livin’ before now, an’ I’m not so old but I can do it again.  You always was one for talkin’, but the fewest words is best.  Them as talks most isn’t allus the most straightfor’ard.’