"
Mr. Hickson, hovering at no great distance, heard these words,
and drew near to second Mrs. Denbigh's request. Mr. Bradshaw, who
was very sleepy after his unusually late dinner, and longing for
bedtime, joined in the request, for it would save the necessity
for making talk, and he might, perhaps, get in a nap, undisturbed
and unnoticed, before the servants came in to prayers.
Mr. Donne was caught; he was obliged to read aloud, although he
did not know what he was reading. In the middle of some sentence
the door opened, a rush of servants came in, and Mr. Bradshaw
became particularly wide awake in an instant, and read them a
long sermon with great emphasis and unction, winding up with a
prayer almost as long.
Ruth sat with her head drooping, more from exhaustion, after a
season of effort than because she shunned Mr. Donne's looks. He
had so lost his power over her--his power, which had stirred her
so deeply the night before--that, except as one knowing her error
and her shame, and making a cruel use of such knowledge, she had
quite separated him from the idol of her youth. And yet, for the
sake of that first and only love, she would gladly have known
what explanation he could offer to account for leaving her. It
would have been something gained to her own self-respect if she
had learnt that he was not then, as she felt him to be now, cold
and egotistical, caring for no one and nothing but what related
to himself.
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