What was done was done, and angry scenes, coldness and
repulsion could now only prove hurtful. As soon as Blanche returned
from a short bridal-tour the doors of her father's house were thrown
open for her and her husband to come in. But the sensitive,
high-spirited young man said, "No." He could not deceive himself in
regard to the estimation in which he was held by Mr. and Mrs.
Birtwell, and was not willing to encounter the humiliation of living
under their roof and coming in daily but restrained contact with
them. So he took his bride to his mother's house, and Mrs. Birtwell
had no alternative but to submit, hard as the trial was, to this
separation from her child.
This was the shadow of the great evil in which Mrs. Birtwell was
sitting on the day Mr. Ridley found himself amid the new influences
and new friends that were to give him another start in life and
another chance to redeem himself. She had passed a night of tears
and agony, and though suffering deeply had gained a calm exterior.
Ethel, after leaving the Home, came with a heart full of new hope
and joy to see Mrs. Birtwell and tell her about her father.
The first impulse of the unhappy mother, sitting in the shadows of
her own great sorrow, was to send the girl away with a simple
denial.
"Say that I cannot see her this morning," she said coldly. But
before the servant could leave the room she repented of this denial.
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