His poor harassed mother,--what a hard life hers had been! Archie began to feel his heart quite tender towards her; perhaps she was a little severe and exacting with the girls, but they none of them understood her in the least, "for her bark was always worse than her bite," thought Archie; and girls, at least the generality of them, are sometimes aggravating. He thought of the weary times she must have had with his father,--for Mr. Drummond could make himself disagreeable to his wife when things went wrong with him, and the sullen fortitude with which he bore his reversal of fortune gave small opening to her tenderness; the very way in which he shirked all domestic responsibilities, leaving on her shoulders the whole weight of the domestic machinery and all the home-management, had hardened and embittered her. A large family and small means, little support from her husband,--who interfered less and less with domestic matters,--all this had no doubt fostered the arbitrary will that governed the Drummond household. If her husband had only kept her in check,--if he had supported her authority, and not left her to stand alone,--she would have been, not a better woman, for Archie knew his mother was good, but she would have been softer and more lovable, and her children would have seen deeper into her heart. Some such thoughts as these passed through Archie's mind as he walked beside Nan; but he worked them out more carefully when he was alone that night. Just before they reached the Friary, he had started another subject; for, turning to Phillis and Dulce, whom he had hitherto ignored, he asked them whether he might enroll one or all of them among his Sunday-school teachers. Phillis's eyes sparkled at this. "Oh, Nan, how delightful! it will remind us of Oldfield." "Yes, indeed:" chimed in Dulce, who had left her infant-class with regret; but, to their surprise, Nan demurred. "At Oldfield things were very different," she said, decidedly: "we played all the week, and it was no hardship to teach the dear children on Sunday; but now we shall have to work so hard that we shall be glad of one day's rest." "But surely you might spare us one hour or two in the afternoon?" returned Archie, putting on what Grace called "his clerical face." "In the afternoons mother will be glad of our company, and sometimes we shall indulge in a walk. No, Mr. Drummond, our week-days are too full of work, and we shall need all the rest we can get on Sunday." And, with a smile, Nan dismissed the subject. Phillis spoke regretfully of it when he had left them. "It would have been so nice," she pleaded; but Nan was inexorable. "You can go if you like, Phil; but I think mother is entitled to that one afternoon in the week, and I will not consent to any parish work on that account; and then I am sure we shall often be so tired." And Nan's good sense, as usual, carried the day.