“I want to speak to you of Jane,” continued Mrs. Warburton, with a look of pleasant reflection.  “You know she went to see her friend, Miss Winter, a few weeks ago.  Has she told you anything about it?”

“Nothing at all.”

“Well, do you know that Miss Winter has taken up flower-growing as a business, and it looks as if she would be very successful.  She is renting more land, to make gardens of, and has two girls with her, as apprentices.  I think that’s what Jane will turn to some day.  Of course she won’t be really obliged to work for her living, but, when she is alone, I’m certain she won’t be content to live just as she does now—­she is far too active; but for me, I daresay she would go and join Miss Winter at once.”

“I don’t much care for that idea of girls going out to work when they could live quietly at home,” said Will.

“I used to have the same feeling,” answered his mother, “but Jane and I have often talked about it, and I see there is something to be said for the other view.  At all events, I wanted to prevent you from wondering what was to become of her when she was left alone.  To be sure,” she added, with a bright smile, “Jane may marry.  I hope she will.  But I know she won’t easily be persuaded to give up her independence.  Jane is a very independent little person.”

“If she has that in mind,” said Will, “why shouldn’t you both go and live over there, in Suffolk?  You could find a house, no doubt—­”

Mrs. Warburton gently shook her head.

“I don’t think I could leave The Haws.  And—­for the short time—­”

“Short time? but you are not seriously ill, mother.”

“If I get stronger,” said Mrs. Warburton, without raising her eyes, “we must manage to send Jane into Suffolk.  I could get along very well alone.  But there—­we have talked enough for this evening, Will.  Can you stay over tomorrow?  Do, if you could manage it.  I am glad to have you near me.”

When they parted for the night, Will asked his sister to meet him in the garden before breakfast, and Jane nodded assent.

CHAPTER 39

The garden was drenched in dew, and when about seven o’clock, the first sunbeam pierced the grey mantle of the east, every leaf flashed back the yellow light.  Will was walking there alone, his eyes turned now and then to the white window of his mother’s room.

Jane came forth with her rosy morning face, her expression graver than of wont.

“You are uneasy about mother,” were her first words.  “So am I, very.  I feel convinced Dr. Edge has given her some serious warning; I saw the change in her after his last visit.”

“I shall go and see him,” said Will.

They talked of their anxiety, then Warburton proposed that they should walk a little way along the road, for the air was cool.

“I’ve something I want to tell you,” he began, when they had set forth.  “It’s a little startling—­rather ludicrous, too.  What should you say if some one came and told you he had seen me serving behind a grocer’s counter in London?”