long. Aren't you glad to see me, dear, sweet, pretty Ruth? Don't you
know for yourself that you are my affinity--my chosen friend, my
beloved? Through the ages we have been one, and now we have met in the
flesh."

"I think," said Cassandra, at last managing to get herself heard, "that
you have said enough for the present, Miss O'Hara. Ruth Craven has come
to spend the day with me. I know that you are an Irish girl, and you
must be lonely. I shall be very pleased if you will join Ruth and me in
our walk. We are going for a walk across the common.--We shall be in to
tea, dear mother. Will you have it ready for us not later than five
o'clock? And I am sure you will join me, mother darling, in asking Miss
O'Hara to stay, too."

"But Miss O'Hara doesn't want to join either you or your 'mother
darling,'" said Kathleen in her rudest tone. "It is Ruth I want. I have
come here for her. She must return with me at once."

"But I can't. I am ever so sorry, Miss O'Hara."

"You mean that you won't come when I have called for you?"

"I am with Miss Weldon at present."

"Be sensible, dear," said Mrs. Weldon at that moment. "You don't quite
understand our manners in this country. However attached we may be to a
person, we don't enter a strange house and snatch that person out of it.
It isn't our way; and I don't think--you will forgive me for saying
it--that your way is as nice as ours. Be persuaded, dear, and join
Cassandra and Ruth, and have a happy time."