something else on my mind. It is not Dent's unwisdom that
distresses me."

Her tone indicated that she had passed to a more important topic.
If any one had told her that her sons were not equally dear, the
wound of such injustice would never have healed. In all that she
could do for both there had never been maternal discrimination; but
the heart of a woman cannot help feeling things that the heart of a
mother does not; and she discriminated as a woman. This was
evident now as she waived her young son's affairs.

"It is not Dent that I have been thinking of this morning," she
repeated. "Why is it not you that come to tell me of your
engagement? Why have you not set Dent an example as to the kind of
woman he ought to marry? How many more years must he and I wait?"

They were seated opposite each other. He was ready for riding out
on the farm, his hat on his crossed knees, gloves and whip in hand.
Her heart yearned over him as he pulled at his gloves, his head
dropped forward so that his face was hidden.

"Now that the subject has come up in this unexpected way, I want to
tell you how long I have wished to see you married. I have never
spoken because my idea is that a mother should not advise unless
she believes it necessary. And in your case it has not been
necessary. I have known your choice, and long before it became
yours, it became mine. She is my ideal among them all. I know
women, Rowan, and I know she is worthy of you and I could not say
more. She is-high-minded and that quality is so rare in either
sex. Without it what is any wife worth to a high-minded man? And