After each apparent defeat, if we are bravely in
earnest, we gain something on our former position. Baruch was two
days on his journey back to town, and as he came nearer home, he
recovered himself a little. Suddenly he remembered the bookshop and
the book for which he had to call, and that he had intended to ask
Marshall something about the bookseller's new assistant.
CHAPTER XX
Madge was a puzzle to Mrs Caffyn. Mrs Caffyn loved her, and when she
was ill had behaved like a mother to her. The newly-born child, a
healthy girl, was treated by Mrs Caffyn as if it were her own
granddaughter, and many little luxuries were bought which never
appeared in Mrs Marshall's weekly bill. Naturally, Mrs Caffyn's
affection moved a response from Madge, and Mrs Caffyn by degrees
heard the greater part of her history; but why she had separated
herself from her lover without any apparent reason remained a
mystery, and all the greater was the mystery because Mrs Caffyn
believed that there were no other facts to be known than those she
knew. She longed to bring about a reconciliation. It was dreadful
to her that Madge should be condemned to poverty, and that her infant
should be fatherless, although there was a gentleman waiting to take
them both and make them happy.
'The hair won't be dark like yours, my love,' she said one afternoon,
soon after Madge had come downstairs and was lying on the sofa.
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