silent for a minute or two.

"It seems so odd to me to be here again," he said. It was odd;--she
felt that it was odd. But he ought not to have said so.

"Two years make a great difference. The boys have grown so much."

"Yes, and there are other things," said he.

"Bella was never here before; at least not with you."

"No. But I did not exactly mean that. All that would not make the
place so strange. But your mother seems altered to me. She used to
be almost like my own mother."

"I suppose she finds that you are a more formidable person as you
grow older. It was all very well scolding you when you were a clerk
in the bank, but it does not do to scold the manager. These are the
penalties men pay for becoming great."

"It is not my greatness that stands in my way, but--"

"Then I'm sure I cannot say what it is. But Patty will scold you if
you do not mind the figure, though you were the whole Board of
Directors packed into one. She won't respect you if you neglect
your present work."

When Bessy went to bed that night she began to feel that she had
attempted too much. "Mamma," she said, "could I not make some
excuse and go away to Aunt Mary?"