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 by those he cares for. Your influence is paramount with him now—but if you turn from him just when he needs your help, who can say what the result will be?&quot;

The argument, though impressively delivered, was hardly of a nature to carry conviction to its hearer; but it was perhaps for that very reason that she suddenly and unexpectedly replied to it by sinking back into her seat with a burst of tears. To Mrs. Peyton, however, tears were the signal of surrender, and, at Kate's side in an instant, she hastened to temper her triumph with magnanimity.

&quot;Don't think I don't feel with you; but we must both forget ourselves for our boy's sake. I told him I should come back with your promise.&quot;

The arm she had slipped about Kate's shoulder fell back with the girl's start. Kate had seen in a flash what capital would be made of her emotion.