In her soul she believed this might be best for him in the end.

She had a surreptitious, an almost anguished, joy in the thought that he and John Grier could not hit it off.

It seemed natural that both men, ignorant of their own tragedy, believing themselves to be father and son, should feel for each other the torture of distance, a misunderstanding, which only she and one other human being understood.
John Grier was not the boy's father.

Carnac was the son of Barode Barouche.
After a moment he said: "Mother, I know why I've come to you.

It's because I feel when I'm in trouble, I get helped by being with you." "How do I help, my boy ?" she asked with a sad smile, for he had said the thing dearest to her heart.
"When I'm with you, I seem to get a hold on myself.