All the time the building trembled and throbbed, and this throbbing
was communicated to the house. As she sat with Aunt Alvirah, and sewed
carpet-rags for a braided mat, the distant thunder of the mills and
the trembling of the machinery made the whole house vibrate.

Late in the afternoon Ruth heard the honking of an auto horn and ran
out upon the covered porch. Between the scuds of rain that drove along
the valley she saw the gray automobile coming slowly past the mill.
There was a man driving it now, and he stopped and let Helen Cameron
out so that she could run up to great Ruth under the shelter of the
porch.

"Oh, you dear! How are you getting on?" cried Helen, kissing her
impulsively and as glad to see Ruth as though they had been separated
for days instead of for only a few hours. "Colfax wanted to drive down
to the station alone for Daddy-- for we won't bring poor Tom home in
this rain-- but I just couldn't resist coming to see how you were
getting on." She looked around with big eyes. "How does the Ogre treat
you?" she whispered.

But Ruth could laugh now and did so, saying, cheerfully: "He hasn't
eaten me up yet! And Aunt Alvirah is the dearest little lady who ever
lived."

"She likes you, then?"

"Of course she does."

"I knew she would, she was bound to love you. But I don't know about