Hudson, in a tone which,
for all its gentleness, made Rowland stare. The poor fellow's stare
covered a great deal of concentrated wonder and apprehension--a
presentiment of what a small, sweet, feeble, elderly lady might be
capable of, in the way of suddenly generated animosity. There was no
space in Mrs. Hudson's tiny maternal mind for complications of feeling,
and one emotion existed only by turning another over flat and perching
on top of it. She was evidently not following Roderick at all in his
dusky aberrations. Sitting without, in dismay, she only saw that all was
darkness and trouble, and as Roderick's glory had now quite outstripped
her powers of imagination and urged him beyond her jurisdiction, so that
he had become a thing too precious and sacred for blame, she found it
infinitely comfortable to lay the burden of their common affliction upon
Rowland's broad shoulders. Had he not promised to make them all rich and
happy? And this was the end of it! Rowland felt as if his trials were,
in a sense, only beginning. "Had n't you better forget all this, my
dear?" Mrs. Hudson said.
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