d to think such things
possible, before sorrow had embittered her--that Ruth had worked her
way through the deep purgatory of repentance up to something like
purity again; God only knew! If her present goodness was real--if,
after having striven back thus far on the heights, a fellow-woman
was to throw her down into some terrible depth with her unkind,
incontinent tongue, that would be too cruel! And yet, if--there was
such woeful uncertainty and deceit somewhere--if Ruth-- No! that
Jemima, with noble candour, admitted was impossible. Whatever Ruth
had been, she was good, and to be respected as such, now. It did not
follow that Jemima was to preserve the secret always; she doubted her
own power to do so, if Mr Farquhar came home again, and were still
constant in his admiration of Mrs Denbigh, and if Mrs Denbigh gave
him any--the least encouragement. But this last she thought, from
what she knew of Ruth's character, was impossible. Only, what was
impossible after this afternoon's discovery? At any rate, she would
watch and wait. Come what might, Ruth was in her power. And, strange
to say, this last certainty gave Jemima a kind of protecting,
almost pitying, feeling for Ruth. Her horror at the wrong was not
diminished; but the more she thought of the struggles that the
wrong-doer must have made to extricate herself, the more she felt how
cruel it would be to baffle all by revealing what had been. But for
her sisters' sake she had a duty to perform; she must watch Ruth. For
her love's sake she could not have helped watching; but she was too
much stunned to recognise the force of her love, while duty seemed
the only stable thing to cling to. For the present she would neither
meddle nor mar in Ruth's course of life.

CHAPTER XXVI

Mr Bradshaw's Virtuous Indignation

So it was that Jemima no longer avoided Ruth, nor manifested by
word or look the dislike which for a long time she had been scarce
concealing. Ruth could not help noticing that Jemima always sought to
be in her presence while she was at Mr Bradshaw's house; either when
daily teaching Mary and Elizabeth, or when she came as an occasional
visitor with Mr and Miss Benson, or by herself. Up to this time
Jemima had used no gentle skill to conceal the abruptness with which
she would leave the room rather than that Ruth and she should be
brought into contact--rather than that it should fall to her lot to
entertain Ruth during any part of the evening. It was