Page:Later Life (1919).djvu/39

Rh "My boy, will you always stay with me? You won't go away, like everybody? . . ."

"Come, Mummy, you've got Granny and Uncle Gerrit and Uncle Paul."

"Yes, they are nice," she said, softly.

And she thought:

"I shall lose him, later, when he's grown up . . . I know that I shall lose him . . ."

It made her feel very weak and helpless; and she began to cry. ..

He knelt down beside her and, in a stern voice, forbade her to be so excitable, forbade her to cry about nothing. ..

It was heavenly to have him laying down the law like that. And she thought:

"I shall lose him, when he's grown up . . . Oh, let me be thankful that I have him still! . . ."

Then, tired out, she went to sleep; and he left her, thinking to himself:

"They both feel the same thing!"