“More than once it’s occurred to me,” drawled her life-partner, “that as Ralph is almost of age it would be a wise thing to tell him the truth regarding his birth.”

“No, John… No!”

And before he started the fight Thornton knew he had lost it, seeing the iron will reflected in his wife’s face. That Mrs Thornton was strong-willed, a woman who invariably had her own way, he had known long before marriage. It was that trait of dominance in her character which had attracted him. He had been comparatively poor when the need of a partner was felt first; and, like a wise man, knowing the trials and hardships of the Australian bush, he did not select a weak, clinging woman, doubtless an ornament to a city drawing-room. His choice was reflected by his poise as well as his bank balance.

“But what we have to remember, Ann, is that Ralph one day may find out,” he argued. “Would it not be better for us to tell him gently, than for someone to tell him roughly that he is not your son, but the son of a woman who was our cook?”

“I see neither the reason nor the necessity,” she said, her eyes on the darting needle. “Mary, his mother, is dead. The doctor who brought him into the world is dead. Don’t you remember how ill I was when Ralph was born, ill and nearly mad with grief because my baby died? In her last moments Mary gave him to me. She saw me take the baby with a cry of joy, and cover it with hungry kisses. And when Mary died she was smiling.”

“But-”

“No, no, John. Don’t argue,” she pleaded. “I made him mine, and mine he must be always. If he knows I am not his real mother there will be a difference, there will arise a barrier between him and me, no matter how we try to keep it down.”