"Tut! Tut! That kind of talk isn't allowed here. If you can't decide like a
sane woman the law'll soon decide for you."

As was always the case when Mrs. Mumpson reached the inevitable, she yielded;
the paper was signed, and Jane, who had already made up her small bundle,
nodded triumphantly to her mother and followed Watterly. Mrs. Mumpson, on
tiptoe, followed also, bent on either propitiating Holcroft and so preparing
the way for a visit, or else on giving him once more a "piece of her mind."

"All right, Holcroft!" said Watterly, as he entered the office, "here's the
paper signed. Was there ever such an id-----"

"Oh, how do you do, Mr. Holcroft?" cried the widow, bursting in and rushing
forward with extended hand.

The farmer turned away and looked as if made of stone.

Changing her tactics instantly, she put her handkerchief to her eyes and
moaned, "You never can have the heart to say I can't come and see my child.
I've signed writings, 'tis true, under threats and compulsions; but I trust
there will be relentings--"

"There won't be one relent!" cried Jane. "I never want to see you again, and a
blind post could see that he doesn't."

"Jane," said Holcroft sternly, "don't speak so again. If strangers can be
kind and patient with you, you can be so with your mother. She has no claims
on me and has said things which make it impossible for me to speak to her
again, but I shall insist on your visiting and treating her kindly. Goodbye,