Her son looked up from his plan with an air of the utmost astonishment. Mrs. Ogden continued,-- "I think you might have told me about it a little sooner. I don't even know her name, not positively, though I may guess it, perhaps. There's no doubt about one thing--you'll have time enough to repent in. As they make their bed, so they must lie." "What the devil," said Jacob, thinking aloud and _very_ loudly,--"what the devil is th' ould woman drivin' at?" "Nay, if I'm to be sworn at, I've been too long i' this 'ouse already." And Mrs. Ogden, with that stately step which distinguished her, made slowly for the door. In cases where the lady of a house acts in a manner which is altogether absurd, the male or males, whose comfort is in a great degree dependent upon her good temper, have a much better chance of restoring it than when she is but moderately unreasonable. They are put upon their guard; they are quite safe from that most fatal of errors, an attempt to bring the lady round by those too direct arguments which are suggested by masculine frankness; they are warned that judicious management is necessary. Thus, although Jacob Ogden, in the first shock of his astonishment, had not replied to his mother in a manner precisely calculated to soothe her, he at once perceived his error, and saw that she must be brought round. In politer spheres, where people beg pardon of each other for the most trifling and even imaginary offences, the duty of begging pardon is so constantly practised that (like all well-practised duties) it is extremely easy. But it was impossible for Jacob Ogden, who had never begged pardon in his life. "I say, mother, stop a bit. You've gotten a bit o' brass o' your own, an' I'm layin' down a new mill, and I shall want o' th'[12] brass I can lay my hands on. I willn't borrow none, out of this 'ouse, not even of my brother Isaac; but if you could lend me about four thousand pound, I could give a better finish to th' new shed." "Why, Jacob, you never told me as you were layin' down a new mill." "No, but I should a' done if you'd a' waited a bit I never right made up my mind about it while last night." It was not Jacob Ogden's custom to be confidential with his mother about money matters, and she on her part had been too proud to seek a confidence that was never offered; but many little signs had of late led her to the conclusion that Jacob was in a period of unusual prosperity. He had bought one or two small estates for three or four thousand pounds each, and then had suddenly declared that he would lay out no more money in "potterin' bits o' property like them, but keep it while he'd a good lump for summat o' some use." The decision about the new mill proved to Mrs. Ogden that the "lump" in question was already accumulated. "Jacob," she said, "how much do you reckon to put into th' new mill?" "Why, 'appen about forty thousand; an' if you'll lend me four, that'll be forty-four."