as bad as forever, and I was given a choice. I don't want to bore
you, but if you will let me come occasionally, I shall be very
glad. I'm going to try to be patient, too, if you'll help
me--patience isn't my long suit."

"Indeed I will help you," answered Ruth, impulsively; "I know how
hard it must be."

"I'm not begging for your sympathy, though I assure you it is
welcome." He polished the tinted glasses with a bit of chamois..
and his eyes filled with the mist of weakness before he put them
on again. "So you've never seen your aunt," he said.

"No--that pleasure is still in store for me."

"They say down at the 'Widder's' that she's a woman with a
romance."

"Tell me about it!" exclaimed Ruth, eagerly.

"Little girls mustn't ask questions," he remarked, patronisingly,
and in his most irritating manner. "Besides, I don't know. If the
'Widder' knows, she won't tell, so it's fair to suppose she
doesn't. Your relation does queer things in the attic, and every
Spring, she has an annual weep. I suppose it's the house
cleaning, for the rest of the year she's dry-eyed and calm."

"I weep very frequently," commented Ruth.

"'Tears, idle tears--I wonder what they mean.'"