"And I am glad to see Hughie.

He will excuse me from rising," she added, with fine courtesy.
Hughie hurried toward her.
"Yes, indeed, Mrs.Finch.

Don't think of rising." But he could get no further.

Boy as he was, and at the age when boys are most heartless and regardless, he found it hard to keep his lip and his voice steady and to swallow the lump in his throat, and in spite of all he could do his eyes were filling up with tears as he looked into the little woman's face, so worn and weary, so pathetically bright.
It was months since he had seen her, and during these months a great change had come to her and to the Finch household.

After suffering long in secret, the mother had been forced to confess to a severe pain in her breast and under her arm.