He left the window and came and stood behind her chair, his hands clasped playfully beneath her chin.

“Have you the exact date about you, mother?”

“What date, Stephen?”

“When I shall leave St. Louis for the United States Senate.  And you must not forget that there is a youth limit in our Constitution for senators.”

Then the widow smiled,—­a little sadly, perhaps.  But still a wonderfully sweet smile.  And it made her strong face akin to all that was human and helpful.

“I believe that you have the subject of my first speech in that august assembly.  And, by the way, what was it?”

“It was on ‘The Status of the Emigrant,’” she responded instantly, thereby proving that she was his mother.

“And it touched the Rights of Privacy,” he added, laughing, “which do not seem to exist in St. Louis boarding-houses.”

“In the eyes of your misguided profession, statesmen and authors and emigrants and other public charges have no Rights of Privacy,” said she.  “Mr. Longfellow told me once that they were to name a brand of flour for him, and that he had no redress.”

“Have you, too, been up before Miss Crane’s Commission?” he asked, with amused interest.

His mother laughed.

“Yes,” she said quietly.

“They have some expert members,” he continued.  “This Mrs. Abner Reed could be a shining light in any bar.  I overheard a part of her cross-examination.  She—­she had evidently studied our case—­”

“My dear,” answered Mrs. Brice, “I suppose they know all about us.”  She was silent a moment, I had so hoped that they wouldn’t.  They lead the same narrow life in this house that they did in their little New England towns.  They—­they pity us, Stephen.”

“Mother!”

“I did not expect to find so many New Englanders here—­I wish that Mr. Whipple had directed us elsewhere-”

“He probably thought that we should feel at home among New Englanders.  I hope the Southerners will be more considerate.  I believe they will,” he added.

“They are very proud,” said his mother.  “A wonderful people,—­born aristocrats.  You don’t remember those Randolphs with whom we travelled through England.  They were with us at Hollingdean, Lord Northwell’s place.  You were too small at the time.  There was a young girl, Eleanor Randolph, a beauty.  I shall never forget the way she entered those English drawing-rooms.  They visited us once in Beacon Street, afterwards.  And I have heard that there are a great many good Southern families here in St. Louis.”

“You did not glean that from Judge Whipple’s letter, mother,” said Stephen, mischievously.

“He was very frank in his letter,” sighed Mrs. Brice.

“I imagine he is always frank, to put it delicately.”

“Your father always spoke in praise of Silas Whipple, my dear.  I have heard him call him one of the ablest lawyers in the country.  He won a remarkable case for Appleton here, and he once said that the Judge would have sat on the Supreme Bench if he had not been pursued with such relentlessness by rascally politicians.”