lessings. As I cannot, I wish you to appreciate
them as they deserve. Do not come down, Miss Levice," as she moved to
follow him; "I am in a great hurry. Good-morning."

"How harassed he looked! I wonder who is his patient!" observed Mrs.
Levice, as Ruth quietly returned to her seat. A sunbeam fell aslant the
girl's preoccupied face. The doctor's few words had given her food for
thought.

When later on she remembered how she was going to disprove for herself
Louis's allegations, she wondered if he could have found anything to
mock at, had he been present, in Kemp's abrupt visit of the morning.

Chapter V

Ruth always dressed well. Indeed, any little jealousy her lovely
presence might occasion was usually summed up in the terse innuendo,
"Fine feathers make fine birds."

To dress well is to dress appropriately to time, place, and season.
Having a full purse, she could humor every occasion with a change
of gown; being possessed of good taste, her toilets never offended;
desiring to look pleasing, as every woman should, she studied what was
becoming; having a mother to whom a good toilet was one of the most
pressing convenances, and who delighted in planning beautiful gowns for
her beautiful daughter, there was nothing lacking to prevent Ruth from
being well-dressed.

On this summer's afternoon she was clad from head to foot in soft,
pale gray. Every movement of her young body, as she walked toward town,
betokened health and elastic strength. Her long, easy gait precluded any
idea of hurry; she noticed everything she passed, from a handsome house
to a dirty child.

She was approaching that portion of Geary Street which the doctors
have appropriated, and she carefully scanned each silvery sign-plate in
search of Dr. Kemp's name. It was the first time she had had occasion to
go; and with a little feeling of novel curiosity she ran up the stairs
leading to his office.

It was just three,--the time stated as the limit of his office-hours;
but when Ruth entered the handsome waiting-room, two or three patients
were still awaiting their turns. Seated in one of the easy-chairs, near
the window, was an aristocratic-looking woman, whom Ruth recognized as a
friend of one of her Christian friends, and with whom she had a speaking
acquaintance. Nodding pleasantly in response to the rather frigid bow,
she walked to the centre of the room, and laying upon the table a bunch
of roses that she carried, proceeded to select one