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