accepted her kisses as one forgiving, not one being forgiven. He told no tales of his lawlessness as a youth.
'I have done nothing I would be ashamed to tell my own mother,' he was fond of saying when discussing some other youth's escapade.
As a man, he had not fallen in love with the first pretty girl he met, but carefully picked out the one he felt would suit him best. He had spoken of the tradesman's daughter to his mother after she had left.
'There's a good wife for a man. She is not pretty enough to be vain, or wild. She is a good, careful daughter, very economical and reliable. I believe she can cook well, and she makes all her own clothes. She has a little money of her own too, and is very good-tempered.'
'Has she a long character from her last place?' his mother answered dreamily, to be confronted by his indignant eyes. She begged him to pardon her absent-mindedness, excusing herself by her worry about servants—a new one was coming in next week. She had gushed over the tradesman's daughter to cover her confusion, and so James had forgiven her—generous James!
