"
"And now, my boy," Mr. Porson said, "try and eat some lunch. I
have just ordered a post chaise to be round at the door in half an
hour. The sooner we start the better. The fresh air and the change
will do you good, and we shall have plenty of time to talk on the
road."
CHAPTER XVI: LUKE MARNER'S SACRIFICE
Not until they had left York behind them did Ned ask after his
mother. He knew that if there had been anything pleasant to tell
about her he would have heard it at once, and the silence of his
friends warned him that the subject was not an agreeable one.
"How is my mother?" he asked at last abruptly.
"Well, Ned," Dr. Green replied, "I have been expecting your question,
and I am sorry to say that I have nothing agreeable to tell you."
"That I was sure of," Ned said with a hard laugh. "As I have received
no message from her from the day I was arrested I guessed pretty
well that whatever doubt other people might feel, my mother was
positive that I had murdered her husband."
"The fact is, Ned," Dr. Green said cautiously, "your mother is
not at present quite accountable for her opinions. The shock which
she has undergone has, I think, unhinged her mind. Worthless as I
believe him to have been, this man had entirely gained her affections.
She has not risen from her bed since he died.
"Sometimes she is absolutely silent for hours, at others she
talks incessantly; and painful as it is to tell you so, her first
impression that you were responsible for his death is the one which
still remains fixed on her mind.
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