"Yes'm."

In spite of the seeming assent, she knew that Hepsey was not
convinced; and afterward, when she came into the room with the
attic lamp and a box of matches, the mystery returned to trouble
Ruth again.

"If I don't take up tatting," she thought, as she went upstairs,
"or find something else to do, I'll be a meddling old maid inside
of six months."



IV. A Guest

As the days went by, Ruth had the inevitable reaction. At first
the country brought balm to her tired nerves, and she rested
luxuriously, but she had not been at Miss Hathaway's a fortnight
before she bitterly regretted the step she had taken.

Still there was no going back, for she had given her word, and
must stay there until October. The months before her stretched
out into a dreary waste. She thought of Miss Ainslie gratefully,
as a redeeming feature, but she knew that it was impossible to
spend all of her time in the house--it the foot of the hill.

Half past six had seemed an unearthly hour for breakfast, and yet
more than once Ruth had been downstairs at five o'clock, before
Hepsey was stiring. There was no rest to be had anywhere, even