In one instant he was petrified by the force of tradition.
"It is my mother," he said in a low voice.

"She has not been in the Square for years.

I was telling her yesterday how pretty it looks in the spring." He went forward with an embarrassed air, and Mrs.Culpeper laid a firm, possessive touch on his arm.
"I thought a little stroll might do me good," she explained.

"The car is waiting across the street at Doctor Bradley's." Then she held out her free hand to Patty, with a smile which, the girl said afterward to Corinna, looked as if it had frozen on her lips.

"Stephen speaks of you very often, Miss Vetch," she said.