"
She could not resist a touch of irony in the last words, and Ruth, who
had been ready to take her hand impulsively, was stung. But she replied
nothing; and the other, after waiting, added, with a sudden and wonderful
kindness: "I say what is quite true. Women might dislike you--many of
them would--though you could not understand why; but you are good, and
that, I suppose, is the best thing in the world. Yes, you are good," she
said musingly, and then she leaned forward and quickly kissed the girl's
cheek. "Good-bye," she said, and then she turned her head resolutely
away.
They stood there both in the sunlight, both very quiet, but their hearts
were throbbing with new sensations. Ruth knew that she had conquered,
and, with her eyes all tearful, she looked steadily, yearningly at the
woman before her; but she knew it was better she should say little now,
and, with a motion of the hand in good-bye,--she could do no more,--she
slowly went to the door. There she paused and looked back, but the other
was still turned away.
For a minute Mrs. Falchion stood looking at the door through which the
girl had passed, then she caught close the curtains of the window, and
threw herself upon the sofa with a sobbing laugh.
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