Page:Dark Hester.djvu/310

mother will always cut herself in pieces to help mend his life. We understand all that. But it’s what lies underneath that matters now; because there are deeper things in life than even sex.—He sacrifices her because he is in love; but he is nearer her than ever because he has sacrificed her. What I’ve come to see in these last months,’ said Hester, gazing past Monica’s head out of the window, ‘is that it’s the family thing that always conquers in the end. It’s what we all come back to, in the bottom of our hearts;—if we have any family. I have none. I’m an outsider in that way, too. I’ve always been a free lance, with all the conceit and theory of a free lance. But if you’ve ever had a mother and if she’s given you and meant to you all the things you care for most, you never get over it. That’s what has happened to Clive and me. And we all three know it’s true. And we all three know that we can pick up and grow roots again—after I’m gone. And that,’ said Hester, rising and lifting her chair and putting it down in its place before the dressing-table, ‘is why I am going. And please don’t let us be sentimental about it.’

‘Hester,’ said Monica. She, too, had risen. She still stood by her son, but she had dropped his hand and her voice arrested the girl who, half turned