Bradshaw, as
being what his deserted minister could not receive.
Mr. and Miss Benson had about thirty or forty pounds coming in
annually from a sum which, in happier days, Mr. Bradshaw had
invested in Canal shares for them. Altogether their income did
not fall much short of a hundred a year, and they lived in the
Chapel-house free of rent. So Ruth's small earnings were but very
little in actual hard commercial account, though in another sense
they were much; and Miss Benson always received them with quiet
simplicity. By degrees, Mr. Benson absorbed some of Ruth's time
in a gracious and natural way. He employed her mind in all the
kind offices he was accustomed to render to the poor around him.
And as much of the peace and ornament of life as they gained now
was gained on a firm basis of truth. If Ruth began low down to
find her place in the world, at any rate there was no flaw in the
foundation.
Leonard was still their great anxiety. At times the question
seemed to be, could he live through all this trial of the
elasticity of childhood? And then they knew how precious a
blessing--how true a pillar of fire, he was to his mother; and
how black the night, and how dreary the wilderness would be, when
he was not. The child and the mother were each messengers of
God--angels to each other.
They had long gaps between the pieces of intelligence respecting
the Bradshaws. Mr. Bradshaw had at length purchased the house at
Abermouth, and they were much there.
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