y feeling towards Mr Benson, he had
rarely been in the Chapel-house. Mr Benson received him courteously,
but he rather expected that there would be some especial reason
alleged, before the conclusion of the visit, for its occurrence; more
particularly as Mr Farquhar sat talking on the topics of the day in a
somewhat absent manner, as if they were not the subjects most present
to his mind. The truth was, he could not help recurring to the last
time when he was in that room, waiting to take Leonard a ride, and
his heart beating rather more quickly than usual at the idea that
Ruth might bring the boy in when he was equipped. He was very full
now of the remembrance of Ruth; and yet he was also most thankful,
most self-gratulatory, that he had gone no further in his admiration
of her--that he had never expressed his regard in words--that no one,
as he believed, was cognisant of the incipient love which had grown
partly out of his admiration, and partly out of his reason. He was
thankful to be spared any implication in the nine-days' wonder which
her story had made in Eccleston. And yet his feeling for her had been
of so strong a character, that he winced, as with extreme pain, at
every application of censure to her name. These censures were often
exaggerated, it is true; but when they were just in their judgment of
the outward circumstances of the case, they were not the less painful
and distressing to him. His first rebound to Jemima was occasioned by
Mrs Bradshaw's account of how severely her husband was displeased at
her daughter's having taken part with Ruth; and he could have thanked
and almost blessed Jemima when she dropped in (she dared do no more)
her pleading excuses and charitable explanations on Ruth's behalf.
Jemima had learnt some humility from the discovery which had been
to her so great a shock; standing, she had learnt to take heed lest
she fell; and when she had once been aroused to a perception of the
violence of the hatred which she had indulged against Ruth, she was
more reticent and measured in the expression of all her opinions. It
showed how much her character had been purified from pride, that now
she felt aware that what in her was again attracting Mr Farquhar was
her faithful advocacy of her rival, wherever such advocacy was wise
or practicable. He was quite unaware that Jemima had been conscious
of his great admiration for Ruth; he did not know that she had ever
cared enough for him to be jealous.