It was his father's proposal, and his mother agreed to it in silence.
Her indifference roused the severest comments in the household.

Mrs.
Nevill Tyson was an unnatural mother.

From the day she weaned him, no one had ever seen her caress the child.

She handled him with a touch as light and fleeting as his own; her lips seemed to shrink from contact with his pure soft skin.

There could be no doubt of it, Mrs.Nevill Tyson's behavior was that of a guilty woman--guilty in will at any rate, if not in deed.
A shuddering whisper went through the house; it became a murmur, and the murmur became an articulate, unmistakable voice.