ce explain the mystery. Long and long ago a
son of the house of Gold had married a daughter of the house of Fuller.
It was not outside the reasonable that Ruth should have had possession
of this old document, in which a Ruth of that far-distant day had
accepted a member of his own household. She might have chosen to answer
him by this clear enigma, but a sense of solemnity in the phrasing
of the letter made him hope his guess untrue. Desperate mysteries ask
naturally for desperate guesses, and Reuben guessed right and left, but
the mystery remained as desperate as ever. His thoughts so harried him
that at last, though it was late for Heydon Hay, he determined to go at
once to Fuller's house and ask for Ruth.

He slipped quietly down-stairs, and, leaving the door ajar, walked
quickly along the darkened road, bearing poor Rachel's long-lost letter
with him; but his journey, as he might have expected, ended in blank
disappointment. Fuller's house was dark. He paced slowly home again,
refastened the door, and went to bed, where he lay and tossed till
broad dawn; and then reflecting that he would catch Ruth at her earliest
household duties, fell asleep, and lay an hour or two beyond his usual
time.

But if Reuben were laggard the innocent guardian dragon was early
astir. Fuller, in his shirt-sleeves and a broad-brimmed straw hat, was
pottering about his garden with a wheelbarrow and a pair of shears. He
saw her at the open door of the garden, and sang out cheerily,

"Halloo, Miss Blythe! Beest early afoot this mornin'. I'm a lover o'
the mornin' air myself. Theer's no time to my mind when the gardin-stuff
looks half as well. The smell o' them roses is real lovely."

He gave a loud-sounding and hearty sniff, and smacked his lips after it.
Rachel seemed to linger a little at the door.

"Come in," said Fuller, "come in. There's nobody here as bites. Beest
come to see Ruth? I doubt if her's about as yet. We ode uns bin twice as
early risin' as the young uns, nowadaysen. Wait a bit and I'll gi'e her
a bit of a chi-hike. Her'll be down in a minute."

"No," said Rachel, "don't call her. I do not wish to see her yet. It
will be necessary to see her later on; but first of all I desire to
speak to you alone." Fuller looked a little scared at this exordium, but
Rachel did not notice him. He had never known her so precise and picked
in air and speech as she seemed to be that morning, and through all this
a furtive air of embarrass