sure of anything from her own point of view, she knew that
Marian, as often as not, had quite a different criterion. She
understood that the girl frequently expressed an opinion by mere
reticence, and hence the carefulness with which, when conversing,
she tried to discover the real effect of her words in Marian's
features.

'Hungry, too,' she said, seeing the crust Marian was nibbling.
'You really must have more lunch, dear. It isn't right to go so
long; you'll make yourself ill.'

'Have you been out?' Marian asked.

'Yes; I went to Holloway.'

Mrs Yule sighed and looked very unhappy. By 'going to Holloway'
was always meant a visit to her own relatives--a married sister
with three children, and a brother who inhabited the same house.
To her husband she scarcely ever ventured to speak of these
persons; Yule had no intercourse with them. But Marian was always
willing to listen sympathetically, and her mother often exhibited
a touching gratitude for this condescension--as she deemed it.

'Are things no better?' the girl inquired.

'Worse, as far as I can see. John has begun his drinking again,
and him and Tom quarrel every night; there's no peace in the
'ouse.'

If ever Mrs Yule lapsed into gross errors of pronunciation or