t of her sight. She was a pale, pretty,
gentle-looking woman, with a will of iron. It was to Judge Barrett's
sister, Mrs. Stanton, in a neighboring town, that they came. They were
afraid to mention his name, or hint at a possible reconciliation; but
they managed to make the young Ruth very much in love with her new
aunt, and merry, pretty cousins.

Meanwhile her father had gone from bad to worse, a confirmed drunkard,
though rarely too far gone to make an eloquent stump-speech when
occasion required. So popular was he that he had the sympathy of the
community in his domestic estrangement. Some said his wife was too hard
and unforgiving; all agreed that he should have been permitted to see
his child.

Ruth was seventeen years old and had long since exerted her filial
influence to the extent of going to her aunt, Mrs. Stanton, whenever
she wished. She had come to be quite a sensation in her father's native
village, his hosts of friends readily tracing a likeness to himself. She
was a sweet, rather wilful maiden, not exactly pretty, but very refined
and attractive.

Judge Barrett had always found a bed at his sister's, no matter at
what hour of day or night he chose to stagger in; but the large family
combined efforts to prevent the contretemps of a meeting between him and
Ruth. Their promise to her mother was too sacred for trifling, and they
loved the girl too well to risk being deprived of her society. Destiny,
or chance, was too strong for them. It was on a bright, sunlit day, when
Ruth was in an animated discussion with her cousin Roger upon the merits
of Vassar College, recently thrown open to young women, which he
declared was only a place where they transformed a girl into a boy.

"Never go there, Coz, if you wish to retain an iota of your womanhood."

"Prejudice, prejudice;" she retorted. "I do believe in the higher
education of women and I am certainly going to Vassar, if I can persuade
my mother to part from me so long."

"Why not take her with you?" Mrs. Stanton was saying, when horror of
horrors, there appeared at the side door of the large sitting-room
a flushed and tangled-looking creature, tottering and righting up
alternately. All eyes were turned upon him, and every voice was dumb.
Steadying himself within the door, he slowly surveyed the young faces
grouped there, till his bloodshot gaze fell upon Ruth's white, wondering
countenance. Perhaps she reminded him of the wife who had repudiated
him. Per