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Mrs. Morland took off her spectacles, closed them and put them into their case, the whole with one hand.

"I know one ought to take them off with alternate hands," she said, "just to keep the balance and prevent their warping, but whenever I think of it it is too late. Yes, I expect you are right about Henry. The fact is that though I have not and never have had anything against him at all, I never think of him. And I must say when he was alive I didn't think much about him either."

So rare was it for Mrs. Morland to allude to the husband whom old Mrs. Knox had described as excessivement nul, that Jane was taken aback. In common with most of Mrs. Morland's friends she had come to look upon the young Morlands as somehow the peculiar and unaided product of their mother. So much surprised that she took courage and said:

"Didn't you feel wicked when you didn't think about your husband, Mrs. Morland?"

"Never," said Mrs. Morland firmly. "And if you don't always think about Francis, my dear," she added, toying with the blue spectacle case as she spoke and looking earnestly at the middle distance, "it isn't wicked in the least. People cannot help being what they are like, and if it is a choice between being miserable and anxious all the time, or being fairly happy and having such a very nice happy little boy, and not depressing people, your attitude is very reasonable. And natural," said Mrs. Morland putting on her spectacles. "And right. Now which pair have I got on? If I look at something about as far off as playing a game of patience I shall know if they are the ones I can see with. I mean that I can see that distance with."