The child entered the parlor warily, keeping open a line of retreat to the
door. "You need not fear me," said her mother, rocking pathetically. "My
feelings are so hurt and crushed that I can only bemoan the wrongs from which
I suffer. You little know, Jane, you little know a mother's heart."

"No," assented Jane. "I dunno nothin' about it."

"What wonder, then that I weep, when even my child is so unnatural!"

"I dunno how to be anything else but what I be," replied the girl in
self-defense.

"If you would only yield more to my guidance and influence, Jane, the future
might be brighter for us both. If you had but stored up the Fifth Commandment
in memory--but I forbear. You cannot so far forget your duty as not to tell
me how HE behaved at dinner."

"He looked awful glum, and hardly said a word."

"Ah-h!" exclaimed the widow, "the spell is working."

"If you aint a-workin' tomorrow, there'll be a worse spell," the girl
remarked.

"That will do, Jane, that will do. You little understand--how should you?
Please keep an eye on him, and let me know how he looks and what he is doing,
and whether his face still wears a gloomy or a penitent aspect. Do as I bid
you, Jane, and you may unconsciously secure your own well-being by obedience."