It was only when the funeral was over, and she was once more at home, that she expressed the slightest concern.  Then she laid her hand in Peter’s and threw back her heavy crepe veil:  “You have saved me from disgrace, Mr. Grayson,” she said, in a low, monotonous voice, “and my little boy as well.  I try to think that Garry must have been out of his mind when he took the money.  He would not listen to me, and he would not tell me the truth.  Jack is going to pay it back to-morrow, and nobody will ever know that my husband did wrong; but I couldn’t let you go away without thanking you for having saved us.  My stepfather wouldn’t help—­ nobody would help but you.  I don’t know why you did it.  It seems so strange.  I had given up all hope when Jack came back last night.”

Peter sat perfectly still, his hand on her wrist, where he had placed it to show by a kindly touch his sympathy for her.  Not knowing what her lips would tell, he had begun to pat the back of her black glove when she started to speak, as one would quiet a child who pours out its troubles, but he stopped in amazement as she proceeded.  He had not loaned her a dollar, nor had Jack, as he knew, succeeded in getting a penny, unless by a miracle he had met some one on the train who had come to his rescue.

What did the poor woman mean?  Disgrace!  Trouble!  Garry taking money, and Jack paying it back on Monday!  The horror of her husband’s sudden death had undoubtedly turned her mind, distorting some simple business transaction into a crime, or she would not be thanking him for something that he had never done.  This talk of Jack’s could only have been a ruse to keep up her spirits and give her false strength until she had passed through the agonizing ordeal of the funeral—­he accepting all her delusions as true—­as one does when an insane person is to be coaxed back into a cell.  These thoughts went whirling through his mind, as Peter watched her face closely, wondering what would be his course.  He had not met her often, yet he could see that she was terribly changed.  He noticed, too, that all through the interview she had not shed a tear.  Yes—­there was no question that her mind was unbalanced.  The best plan would be to bring the interview to an end as quickly as possible, so she should not dwell too long on her sorrow.

“If I have done anything to help you, my dear lady,” he said with gentle courtesy, rising from his chair and taking her hand again, “or can do anything for you in the future, I shall be most happy, and you must certainly let me know.  And now, may I not ask you to go upstairs and lie down.  You are greatly fatigued—­I assure you I feel for you most deeply.”

But his mind was still disturbed.  Ruth and Jack wondered at his quiet as he sat beside them on the way back to MacFarlane’s—­ gazing out of the carriage window, his clean-shaven, placid face at rest, his straight thin lips close shut.  He hardly spoke until they reached the house, and then it was when he helped Ruth alight.  Once inside, however, he beckoned Jack, and without a word led him alone into MacFarlane’s study—­now almost dismantled for the move to Morfordsburg—­and closed the door.