"Mothers are right," said Morgan. "Do you think this young George is
the same sort of creature when he's with his mother that he is when
he's bulldozing your boy Fred? Mothers see the angel in us because
the angel is there. If it's shown to the mother, the son has got an
angel to show, hasn't he? When a son cuts somebody's throat the
mother only sees it's possible for a misguided angel to act like a
devil--and she's entirely right about that!"

Kinney laughed, and put his hand on his friend's shoulder. "I
remember what a fellow you always were to argue," he said. "You mean
Georgie Minafer is as much of an angel as any murderer is, and that
Georgie's mother is always right."

"I'm afraid she always has been," Morgan said lightly.

The friendly hand remained upon his shoulder. "She was wrong once,
old fellow. At least, so it seemed to me."

"No," said Morgan, a little awkwardly. "No--"

Kinney relieved the slight embarrassment that had come upon both of
them: he laughed again. "Wait till you know young Georgie a little
better," he said. "Something tells me you're going to change your
mind about his having an angel to show, if you see anything of him!"

"You mean beauty's in the eye of the beholder, and the angel is all in
the eye of the mother. If you were a painter, Fred, you'd paint
mothers with angels' eyes holding imps in their laps. Me. I'll stick
to the Old Masters and the cherubs."