He had actually at that moment not the slightest sympathy with his wife.

All his other outlets of affection were choked by his concern for his lost child; and as for pity, he kept reflecting, with a cold cruelty, that it served her right--it served both her and her sister right.

Had not they driven the child away between them?
He would not eat the supper which the neighbors had prepared for him; finally he went across the yard to his mother's.

It seemed to him at that time that his mother could enter into his state of mind better than any one else.
When he went out, Fanny called after him, frantically, "Oh, Andrew, you ain't going to leave me ?" When he made no response, she gazed for a second at his retreating back, then her temper came to her aid.

She caught her sister's arm, and pulled her away out of the kitchen.