He replied very gently. He was never heard to speak other than gently to
his mother, though to every one else his manner was sometimes brusque and
dictatorial.

"But, mother, I think we must. It is the only way that we can be sure of
the rent. And, if we live ourselves in one half of it, we shall find it
much easier to get good tenants for the other part. I promise you none of
the mill people shall ever live there again. Please do not make it hard
for me, mother. We must do it."

When Stephen said "must," his mother never gainsaid him. He was only
twenty-five, but his will was stronger than hers,--as much stronger as his
temper was better. Persons judging hastily, by her violent assertions and
vehement statements of her determination, as contrasted with Stephen's
gentle, slow, almost hesitating utterance of his opinions or intentions,
might have assumed that she would always conquer; but it was not so. In
all little things, Stephen was her slave, because she was a suffering
invalid and his mother. But, in all important decisions, he was the
master; and she recognized it, and leaned upon it in a way which was
almost ludicrous in its alternation with her petulance and perpetual
dictating to him in trifles.

And so they went to live in the old Jacobs house. They took the northern
half of it, the part in which the sea captain and his wife had lived.
This half of the house was not so pleasant as the other, had less sun, and
had no door upon the street; but it was smaller and better suited to their
needs, and moreover, Stephen said to his mother,--

"We must live in the half we should find it hardest to rent to a desirable