Mr. Donne was to come down to
canvass in person, and was to take up his abode at Mr.
Bradshaw's; and therefore it was that the seaside house, within
twenty miles' distance of Eccleston, was found to be so
convenient as an infirmary and nursery for those members of his
family who were likely to be useless, if not positive
encumbrances, during the forthcoming election.
CHAPTER XXII
THE LIBERAL CANDIDATE AND HIS PRECURSOR
Jemima did not know whether she wished to go to Abermouth or not.
She longed for change. She wearied of the sights and sounds of
home. But yet she could not bear to leave the neighbourhood of
Mr. Farquhar; especially as, if she went to Abermouth, Ruth would
in all probability be left to take her holiday at home. When Mr.
Bradshaw decided that she was to go, Ruth tried to feel glad that
he gave her the means of repairing her fault towards Elizabeth;
and she resolved to watch over the two girls most faithfully and
carefully, and to do all in her power to restore the invalid to
health. But a tremor came over her whenever she thought of
leaving Leonard; she had never quitted him for a day, and it
seemed to her as if her brooding, constant care was his natural
and necessary shelter from all evils--from very death itself. She
would not go to sleep at nights, in order to enjoy the blessed
consciousness of having him near her; when she was away from him
teaching her pupils, she kept trying to remember his face, and
print it deep on her heart, against the time when days and days
would elapse without her seeing that little darling countenance.
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