I don't want you to marry Jane Harlow, but as you have
set your heart on her, I have resolved to make the most of her strong
points and the least of her weak ones. You had better do the same."
There was silence for a few moments, then John asked, "Was that all,
mother?"
"We had more to say, but it was of a personal nature--I don't think it
concerns you at present."
"Nay, but it does, mother. Everything connected with Jane concerns me."
Mrs. Hatton appeared reluctant to speak, but John's anxiety was so
evident, she answered, "Well, then, it was about my children."
"What about them?"
"She said she had heard her mother speak of my 'large family' and yet
she had never seen any of them but Henry and yourself. She wondered if
her mother had been mistaken. And I said, 'Nay, your mother told the
truth, thank God!'
"'You see,' she continued, 'I was at school until a year ago, and our
families were not at all intimate.' I said, 'Not at all. Your father was
a proud man, Miss Harlow, and he would not notice a cotton-spinner on
terms of social equality.
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