y an hour passed in sultry silence, broken only by the buzzing of
flies and, now and then, a subdued sound of wheels on the sandy road
below. At last the gate-latch clicked, and Ruth came in, walking slowly
up the path.

Doctor Ebling had driven by a few moments before, and gone up the alley
to the stable, and just as Ruth reached the steps, shutting her parasol
and smiling up rather wearily at Miss Custer, he came around the corner
of the house, lifting his hat and wiping the perspiration from his face.

"Why, where have you been?" Ruth asked in surprise.

"In the country," said he.

"And just think, Miss Stanley," exclaimed Miss Custer, speaking to Ruth,
but looking a smiling reproach at the doctor, and for a moment
forgetting the parlor occupant at her back, "here I have been sitting
this whole blessed afternoon! I could have borne the infliction of my
own solitary company better, of course, if I had not been promised an
entertainment."

"You must charge your disappointment to a poor fellow who got himself
cut to pieces by a grass-mower," said the doctor.

"Who was it?" asked Ruth quickly, with a sympathetic play of facial
muscles.

"A man by the name of Burgess, out east of town."

"And is he in a bad way?"

"Rather."

Ruth stood for a moment with her eyes upon the ground, absorbed in the
thought of a fellow-being in distress, and the doctor, glancing from her
up to Miss Custer, was conscious of the strong contrast between them.

Miss Custer was ten years Ruth's senior, but just now it looked as if it
might be the other way: teaching gave Ruth a jaded look that seemed like
age. But she was only eighteen. She wore a plain brown dress and linen
cuffs and collar, all of which bore the stamp of the school-room. Her
shoes were dusty, and her hair, untouched since early morning, had
settled into a mass at the back of her neck, more artistic than stylish.

By and by she excused herself and went into the house. It was her habit
to take a bath and dress herself before tea. The doctor came up and
seated himself on the top step, and remarked that he didn't know whether
it would be worth while to go up town before supper or not. Miss Custer
was about to persuade him that it would not be worth while, when a
movement on the part of Mrs. Tascher recalled her to the consciousness
of that lady's proximity and put her under a sort of constraint. "Do you
suppose your office to be strewn with orders for your immediate
at