One thing, however, did soften him . . . "now that your Pa is going back to Australia for a time. . . ." She didn't know that she would never see Jason again.
"I'll come sometimes to visit you," he said. "You won't lose me."
"But it's not the same, Philip. When a girl marries, she still belongs to her mother, but when a boy marries, he is lost forever."
"But, Ma, I was married before."
"But that didn't count. Naomi didn't make any difference. She was always a sort of poor thing."
