Her
actions were so submissive that they were spiritless; she did all
her father desired; she did it with a nervous quickness and
haste, if she thought that otherwise Mr. Farquhar would interfere
in any way. She wished evidently to owe nothing to him. She had
begun by leaving the room when he came in, after the conversation
she had had with her father; but at Mr. Bradshaw's first
expression of his wish that she should remain, she
remained--silent, indifferent, inattentive to all that was going
on; at least there was this appearance of inattention. She would
work away at her sewing as if she were to earn her livelihood by
it; the light was gone out of her eyes as she lifted them up
heavily before replying to any question, and the eyelids were
often swollen with crying.
But in all this there was no positive fault. Mr. Bradshaw could
not have told her not to do this, or to do that, without her
doing it; for she had become much more docile of late.
It was a wonderful proof of the influence Ruth had gained in the
family, that Mr. Bradshaw, after much deliberation, congratulated
himself on the wise determination he had made of requesting her
to speak to Jemima, and find out what feeling was at the bottom
of all this change in her ways of going on. He rang the bell.
"Is Mrs. Denbigh here?" he inquired of the servant who answered
it.
"Yes, sir; she has just come."
"Beg her to come to me in this room as soon as she can leave the
young ladies.
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