The
only thing against this Mrs. Denbigh was the circumstance of her
having married too early, and without any provision for a family.
Though Ruth pleaded delicacy of health, and declined accompanying
Mr. and Miss Benson on their visit to Mr. Bradshaw, she still
preserved her place in his esteem; and Miss Benson had to call a
little upon her "talent for fiction" to spare Ruth from the
infliction of further presents, in making which his love of
patronising delighted.
The yellow and crimson leaves came floating down on the still
October air; November followed, bleak and dreary; it was more
cheerful when the earth put on her beautiful robe of white, which
covered up all the grey naked stems, and loaded the leaves of the
hollies and evergreens each with its burden of feathery snow.
When Ruth sat down to languor and sadness, Miss Benson trotted
upstairs, and rummaged up every article of spare or worn-out
clothing, and bringing down a variety of strange materials, she
tried to interest Ruth in making them up into garments for the
poor. But, though Ruth's fingers flew through the work, she still
sighed with thought and remembrance. Miss Benson was at first
disappointed, and then she was angry. When she heard the low,
long sigh, and saw the dreamy eyes filling with glittering tears,
she would say, "What is the matter, Ruth?" in a half-reproachful
tone, for the sight of suffering was painful to her; she had done
all in her power to remedy it; and, though she acknowledged a
cause beyond her reach for Ruth's deep sorrow, and, in fact,
loved and respected her all the more for these manifestations of
grief, yet at the time they irritated her.
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