Chapter xxiii My Mother-In-Law Surprises Me.
I TOOK a chair at a respectful distance from the sofa on which Mrs. Macallan seated herself. The old lady smiled, and beckoned to me to take my place by her side. Judging by appearances, she had certainly not come to see me in the character of an enemy. It remained to be discovered I whether she were really disposed to be my friend.
“I have received a letter from your uncle the vicar,” she began. “He asks me to visit you, and I am happy — for reasons which you shall presently hear — to comply with his request. Under other circumstances I doubt very much, my dear child — strange as the confession may appear — whether I should have ventured into your presence. My son has behaved to you so weakly, and (in my opinion) so inexcusably, that I am rea
