yed so
long. I don't want anything from Mr Farrell but good-feeling and a
fair judgment. It cut me up to say good-bye when I saw how feeble he
looked. I don't want you to plead my cause, because I relinquished my
claim long ago; but if you get a chance, you might just let him know
that I was genuinely sorry to leave him for his own sake."

Jack's manly, straightforward speech was just what Mrs Thornton
expected from him, and she gladly consented to convey his message to Mr
Farrell.

"I will, with pleasure," she said, "and I shall have the chance before
many days are over. Wonders will never cease! When I said just now
that the squire was not so hard as he pretended, I spoke out of a full
heart. What do you think of his suggesting--actually suggesting to my
husband that the vicarage might need renovations, and asking him to send
me up to give him my ideas! I nearly fainted when my husband told me.
Now, do you think he thought of it himself, or did one of you kind
creatures suggest it to him?"

"I didn't, I know. It would have been as much as my life was worth; but
I suspect Miss Mollie may have had something to do with it. She spoke
pretty strongly on the subject to me, and she has the courage of her
convictions."

"Oh, that Mollie!" murmured Mrs Thornton under her breath. "I have
never met her equal. The dearest, the simplest, the most affectionate
of girls!" Her eyes moistened suddenly, and Jack's face softened in
sympathy as he looked across the room to where Mollie stood by her
sister's side. She met the two glances bent upon her, and walked
forward in response, leaving Ruth and Victor by themselves.

Poor Ruth! Her heart beat fast with agitation and a last desperate hope
born of Victor's soft tones and regretful eyes. For the moment it
seemed that the last few days must have been a nightmare, and that he
really did "care"; in which case she was prepared to forgive
everything--nay, more, to believe that there was nothing to forgive.

If, in this moment of trouble and humiliation, he would place himself by
her side, nothing that she could do in the future would be enough to
prove her gratitude and devotion. But, alas! even as Mollie turned
away, Victor's manner altered, and he became nervous and ill at ease.
The long, eloquent glances which had been safe enough in the presence of
a third person could not be risked in a _tete-a-tete_, and Ruth's hopes
died a final death. She sat trying to eat he