She seemed to have an instinctive knowledge
of the exact period when her help was likely to become a
hindrance, and withdrew from the busy kitchen just at the right
time.
That afternoon, as Miss Benson and Ruth sat at their work, Mrs.
and Miss Bradshaw called. Miss Benson was so nervous as to
surprise Ruth, who did not understand the probable and possible
questions which might be asked respecting any visitor at the
minister's house. Ruth went on sewing, absorbed in her own
thoughts, and glad that the conversation between the two elder
ladies and the silence of the younger one, who sat at some
distance from her, gave her an opportunity of retreating into the
haunts of memory; and soon the work fell from her hands, and her
eyes were fixed on the little garden beyond, but she did not see
its flowers or its walls; she saw the mountains which girdled
Llan-dhu, and saw the sun rise from behind their iron outline,
just as it had done--how long ago? was it months or was it
years?--since she had watched the night through, crouched up at
his door. Which was the dream and which the reality? that distant
life or this? His moans rang more clearly in her ears than the
buzzing of the conversation between Mrs. Bradshaw and Miss
Benson.
At length the subdued, scared-looking little lady and her
bright-eyed silent daughter rose to take leave; Ruth started into
the present, and stood up and curtseyed, and turned sick at heart
with sudden recollection.
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