”We are alone now, Jonas, and I cannot forget that I am your mother.“
”You’d better, if you know what’s best for both of us,“ said Jonas.
Mrs. Brent was far from being a kind-hearted woman. Indeed she was very cold, but Jonas was her only son, and to him she was as much attached as it was possible for her to be to any one. Formerly he had returned her affection in a slight degree, but since he had figured as a rich man’s son and heir he had begun, incredible as it may appear, to look down upon his own mother. She was not wholly ignorant of this change in his feelings, and it made her unhappy. He was all she had to live for. But for him she would not have stooped to take part in the conspiracy in which she was now a participant. It seemed hard that her only son, for whom she had sinned, should prove so ungrateful.
”My boy,“ she said, ”I would not on any account harm you or injure your prospects, but when we are alone there can be no harm in my treating you as my son.“
”It can’t do any good,“ grumbled Jonas, ”and we might be overheard.“
”I will be cautious. You may be sure of that. But why do you look so annoyed?“
”Why? Reason enough. That boy Dan, the under-gardener, has been impudent to me.“
”He has?“ said Mrs. Brent quickly. ”What has he done?“
Jonas rehearsed the story. He found in his mother a sympathetic listener.
”He is bold!“ she said, compressing her lips.
”Yes, he is. When I told him I would have him turned off, he coolly turned round and said that my father was a gentleman, and wouldn’t send him away. Ma, will you do me a favor?“
”What is it, Jonas?“
”Send him off before the governor gets home. You can make it all right with him.“
Mrs. Brent hesitated.
”Mr. Granville might think I was taking a liberty.“
”Oh, you can make it all right with him. Say that he was very impudent to me. After what has happened, if he stays he’ll think he can treat me just as he pleases.“
Again Mrs. Brent hesitated, but her own inclination prompted her to do as her son desired.
”You may tell Dan to come here. I wish to speak to him,“ she said.
Jonas went out and did the errand.
”Mrs. Brent wants to see me?“ said Dan. ”I have nothing to do with her.“
”You’d better come in if you know what’s best for yourself.“ said Jonas, with an exultation he did not attempt to conceal.
”Oh, well, I have no objection to meeting Mrs. Brent,“ said Dan. ”I’ll go in.“
Mrs. Brent eyed the young gardener with cold animosity.
”You have been impudent to Master Philip,“ she said. ”Of course you cannot remain any longer in his father’s employment. Here are five dollars– more than is due you. Take it, and leave the estate.“
”I won’t take your money, Mrs. Brent,“ said Dan independently, ”and I won’t take my dismissal from any one but Mr. Granville himself.“
”Do you defy me, then?“ said Mrs. Brent, with a firmer compression of her lips.
”No, Mrs. Brent, I don’t defy you, but you have nothing to do with me, and I shall not take any orders or any dismissal from you.“
”Don’t be impertinent to my—-“ burst forth from Jonas, and then he stopped in confusion.
”To your–what?“ asked Dan quickly.
”To my–nurse,“ faltered Jonas.
Dan looked suspiciously from one to the other.
”There’s something between those two,“ he said to himself. ”Something we don’t know of.“
CHAPTER XXXVII.
MRS. BRENT’S PANIC.
THE CHAMBERMAID in the Granville household was a cousin of Dan, older by three years. She took a warm interest in Dan’s welfare, though there was nothing but cousinly affection between them.
Fresh from his interview with Mrs. Brent, Dan made his way to the kitchen.
”Well, Aggie,“ he said, ”I may have to say good- by soon.“
”What, Dan! You’re not for lavin’, are you?“ asked Aggie, in surprise.
”Mrs. Brent has just given me notice,“ answered Dan.