Page 323 - sons-and-lovers

is!’
The girl sat staring glumly into the fire.
‘Why is she badly?’ asked Paul, in his overbearing way.
‘Well!’ said Annie. ‘She could scarcely get home.’
He looked closely at his mother. She looked ill.
‘WHY could you scarcely get home?’ he asked her, still
sharply. She would not answer.
‘I found her as white as a sheet sitting here,’ said Annie,
with a suggestion of tears in her voice.
‘Well, WHY?’ insisted Paul. His brows were knitting, his
eyes dilating passionately.
‘It was enough to upset anybody,’ said Mrs. Morel, ‘hug-
ging those parcels—meat, and green-groceries, and a pair
of curtains—-‘
‘Well, why DID you hug them; you needn’t have done.’
‘Then who would?’
‘Let Annie fetch the meat.’
‘Yes, and I WOULD fetch the meat, but how was I to
know. You were off with Miriam, instead of being in when
my mother came.’
‘And what was the matter with you?’ asked Paul of his
mother.
‘I suppose it’s my heart,’ she replied. Certainly she looked
bluish round the mouth.
‘And have you felt it before?’
‘Yes—often enough.’
‘Then why haven’t you told me?—and why haven’t you
seen a doctor?’
Mrs. Morel shifted in her chair, angry with him for his

Sons and Lovers