, each with some tale of
his mother's gentle doings, till Leonard grew dizzy with the beatings
of his glad, proud heart. Few were aware how much Ruth had done;
she never spoke of it, shrinking with sweet shyness from over-much
allusion to her own work at all times. Her left hand truly knew not
what her right hand did; and Leonard was overwhelmed now to hear
of the love and the reverence with which the poor and outcast had
surrounded her. It was irrepressible. He stepped forward with a proud
bearing, and touching the old man's arm who had first spoken, Leonard
tried to speak; but for an instant he could not, his heart was too
full: tears came before words, but at length he managed to say:

"Sir, I am her son!"

"Thou! thou her bairn! God bless you, lad," said an old woman,
pushing through the crowd. "It was but last night she kept my child
quiet with singing psalms the night through. Low and sweet, low and
sweet, they tell me--till many poor things were hushed, though they
were out of their minds, and had not heard psalms this many a year.
God in heaven bless you, lad!"

Many other wild, woe-begone creatures pressed forward with blessings
on Ruth's son, while he could only repeat:

"She is my mother."

From that day forward Leonard walked erect in the streets of
Eccleston, where "many arose and called her blessed."

After some weeks the virulence of the fever abated; and the general
panic subsided--indeed, a kind of fool-hardiness succeeded. To
be sure, in some instances the panic still held possession of
individuals to an exaggerated extent. But the number of patients in
the hospital was rapidly diminishing, and, for money, those were to
be found who could supply Ruth's place. But to her it was owing that
the overwrought fear of the town was subdued; it was she who had gone
voluntarily, and, with no thought of greed or gain, right into the
very jaws of the fierce disease. She bade the inmates of the hospital
farewell, and after carefully submitting herself to the purification
recommended by Mr Davis, the principal surgeon of the place, who had
always attended Leonard, she returned to Mr Benson's just at gloaming
time.

They each vied with the other in the tenderest cares. They hastened
tea; they wheeled the sofa to the fire; they made her lie down; and
to all she submitted with the docility of a child; and when the
candles came, even Mr Benson's anxious eye could see no change in her
looks, but that she seemed