, and said, in a clear voice,

"Will you read the whole passage aloud? I do not remember it."

Mr Hickson, hovering at no great distance, heard these words, and
drew near to second Mrs Denbigh's request. Mr Bradshaw, who was very
sleepy after his unusually late dinner, and longing for bedtime,
joined in the request, for it would save the necessity for making
talk, and he might, perhaps, get in a nap, undisturbed and unnoticed,
before the servants came in to prayers.

Mr Donne was caught; he was obliged to read aloud, although he did
not know what he was reading. In the middle of some sentence the
door opened, a rush of servants came in, and Mr Bradshaw became
particularly wide awake in an instant, and read them a long sermon
with great emphasis and unction, winding up with a prayer almost as
long.

Ruth sat with her head drooping, more from exhaustion after a season
of effort than because she shunned Mr Donne's looks. He had so lost
his power over her--his power, which had stirred her so deeply the
night before--that, except as one knowing her error and her shame,
and making a cruel use of such knowledge, she had quite separated him
from the idol of her youth. And yet, for the sake of that first and
only love, she would gladly have known what explanation he could
offer to account for leaving her. It would have been something gained
to her own self-respect, if she had learnt that he was not then, as
she felt him to be now, cold and egotistical, caring for no one and
nothing but what related to himself.

Home, and Leonard--how strangely peaceful the two seemed! Oh, for the
rest that a dream about Leonard would bring!

Mary and Elizabeth went to bed immediately after prayers, and Ruth
accompanied them. It was planned that the gentlemen should leave
early the next morning. They were to breakfast half an hour sooner,
to catch the railway train; and this by Mr Donne's own arrangement,
who had been as eager about his canvassing, the week before, as it
was possible for him to be, but who now wished Eccleston and the
Dissenting interest therein very fervently at the devil.

Just as the carriage came round, Mr Bradshaw turned to Ruth: "Any
message for Leonard beyond love, which is a matter of course?"

Ruth gasped--for she saw Mr Donne catch at the name; she did not
guess the sudden sharp jealousy called out by the idea that Leonard
was a grown-up man.

"Who is Leonard?" said he to the little girl standing by him; he d