Ruth's only point of hope was Leonard. She was weary of looking
for work and employment, which everywhere seemed held above her
reach. She was not impatient of this but she was very, very
sorry. She felt within her such capability, and all ignored her,
and passed her by on the other side. But she saw some progress in
Leonard. Not that he could continue to have the happy
development, and genial ripening, which other boys have; leaping
from childhood to boyhood, and thence to youth, with glad bounds,
and unconsciously enjoying every age. At present there was no
harmony in Leonard's character; he was as full of thought and
self-consciousness as many men, planning his actions long
beforehand, so as to avoid what he dreaded, and what she could
not yet give him strength to face, coward as she was herself, and
shrinking from hard remarks. Yet Leonard was regaining some of
his lost tenderness towards his mother; when they were alone he
would throw himself on her neck and smother her with kisses,
without any apparent cause for such a passionate impulse. If any
one was by, his manner was cold and reserved. The hopeful parts
of his character were the determination evident in him to be a
"law unto himself," and the serious thought which he gave to the
formation of this law. There was an inclination in him to reason,
especially and principally with Mr. Benson, on the great
questions of ethics which the majority of the world have settled
long ago.
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