nto Ruth's eyes for a moment. She
thought how cruelly John had left her, without a word of tenderness, and
she said coldly: "Oh, no, ma'am, I couldn't do that; if John would write
and ask me, I might; but I will never humble myself to him, for he has
been wrong and unkind all through, and I dare say he's glad to be free."
She had said the same to herself many a time since the morning when John
had said good-bye to her with as much composure as if he were going to
return in a few hours, and she had almost grown to believe they must be
true. Nevertheless, her heart leaped to hear her mistress say:

"You should not try to think that, Ruth, for I believe you wrong John by
doing so; he is true and manly, and probably he would be only too happy
to receive a letter from you."

"Well, ma'am, I don't feel as if I could write first," was the obstinate
reply; and Ruth presently left the room with a still heavier heart than
she had entered it.

"It's a sad case, George, and my conscience is not at rest about the
part we have played in it," was Mrs. Groombridge's remark to her
husband, after retailing her conversation with Ruth.

"How are we to blame, my dear?" was the surprised question.

"I can't help remembering how we laughed at Ruth for her fanatical whims
as we called them, and encouraged John to do the same. Events have
proved she was right. Perhaps if we had taken another stand, John might
have followed Ruth's example, and all this unhappiness been spared to
both."

"Perhaps," was the curt response.

"Harry, my boy," said his father the following morning, "how many cases
did I hear you say you had at the hospital the other day which were the
result of drink?"

"About three-fourths, father; of course, not all caused by the drinking
habits of the patients themselves: but when a child is brought in badly
burned because its mother was off on a drinking spree, or when a man has
been run over because a driver is the worse for drink, or even when a
woman is dying of disease, the result of want and neglect which drink
has brought about, I suppose it's quite fair to credit the drink as the
indirect cause of such cases."

"Oh, decidedly! Good gracious! I wish the Government would let all other
questions go to the wall, Ireland included, while they did something to
mend matters!"

"My dear, how would you like Government to step in and stop your
supplies?"

"I'd be content they should do that, if it were for the public goo