r I did right; but it's
no use thinking about it now."

"I'm thankful it isn't," said Sally; "and now, if we've talked
doctrine long enough, I'll go make th' beds. Yon girl's secret is
safe enough for me."

Saying this she left the room, and Miss Benson followed. She found
Ruth busy washing the breakfast things; and they were done in so
quiet and orderly a manner, that neither Miss Benson nor Sally, both
particular enough, had any of their little fancies or prejudices
annoyed. She seemed to have an instinctive knowledge of the exact
period when her help was likely to become a hindrance, and withdrew
from the busy kitchen just at the right time.

That afternoon, as Miss Benson and Ruth sat at their work, Mrs and
Miss Bradshaw called. Miss Benson was so nervous as to surprise Ruth,
who did not understand the probable and possible questions which
might be asked respecting any visitor at the minister's house.
Ruth went on sewing, absorbed in her own thoughts, and glad that
the conversation between the two elder ladies and the silence of
the younger one, who sat at some distance from her, gave her an
opportunity of retreating into the haunts of memory; and soon the
work fell from her hands, and her eyes were fixed on the little
garden beyond, but she did not see its flowers or its walls; she
saw the mountains which girdled Llan-dhu, and saw the sun rise from
behind their iron outline, just as it had done--how long ago? was
it months or was it years?--since she had watched the night through,
crouched up at _his_ door. Which was the dream and which the reality?
that distant life, or this? His moans rang more clearly in her ears
than the buzzing of the conversation between Mrs Bradshaw and Miss
Benson.

At length the subdued, scared-looking little lady and her bright-eyed
silent daughter rose to take leave; Ruth started into the present,
and stood up and curtseyed, and turned sick at heart with sudden
recollection.

Miss Benson accompanied Mrs Bradshaw to the door; and in the passage
gave her a long explanation of Ruth's (fictitious) history. Mrs
Bradshaw looked so much interested and pleased, that Miss Benson
enlarged a little more than was necessary, and rounded off her
invention with one or two imaginary details, which, she was quite
unconscious, were overheard by her brother through the half-open
study door.

She was rather dismayed when he called her into his room after Mrs
Bradshaw's departure, and asked her wha