mfort her.

"Don't cry, miss," said the kind-hearted woman. "You're parting from
friends, maybe? Well, that's bad enough, but when you come to my age,
you'll think none of it. Why, I've three sons, and they're soldiers
and sailors, all of them--here, there, and everywhere. One is in
America, beyond seas; another is in China, making tea; and another is
at Gibraltar, three miles from Spain; and yet, you see, I can laugh
and eat and enjoy myself. I sometimes think I'll try and fret a bit,
just to make myself a better figure; but, Lord! it's no use, it's
against my nature; so I laugh and grow fat again. I'd be quite
thankful for a fit of anxiety as would make me feel easy in my
clothes, which them manty-makers will make so tight I'm fairly
throttled."

Ruth durst cry no more; it was no relief, now she was watched and
noticed, and plied with a sandwich or a gingerbread each time she
looked sad. She lay back with her eyes shut, as if asleep, and went
on, and on, the sun never seeming to move from his high place in the
sky, nor the bright hot day to show the least sign of waning. Every
now and then, Miss Benson scrambled down, and made kind inquiries of
the pale, weary Ruth; and once they changed coaches, and the fat old
lady left her with a hearty shake of the hand.

"It is not much further now," said Miss Benson, apologetically, to
Ruth. "See! we are losing sight of the Welsh mountains. We have about
eighteen miles of plain, and then we come to the moors and the rising
ground, amidst which Eccleston lies. I wish we were there, for my
brother is sadly tired."

The first wonder in Ruth's mind was, why then, if Mr Benson were so
tired, did they not stop where they were for the night; for she knew
little of the expenses of a night at an inn. The next thought was, to
beg that Mr Benson would take her place inside the coach, and allow
her to mount up by Miss Benson. She proposed this, and Miss Benson
was evidently pleased.

"Well, if you're not tired, it would make a rest and a change for
him, to be sure; and if you were by me I could show you the first
sight of Eccleston, if we reach there before it is quite dark."

So Mr Benson got down, and changed places with Ruth.

She hardly yet understood the numerous small economies which he and
his sister had to practise--the little daily self-denials,--all
endured so cheerfully, and simply, that they had almost ceased to
require an effort, and it had become natural to them to th