the earlier train. If not,
then the 8.15. I will wait for you in the ladies' waiting-room
where the couches are. If you think my going suddenly this way
is out of the question, then I'll simply turn around and come
back with you to the house here, and grin and bear the situation
somehow. I'll have to. So meet me anyhow. Don't tell any one
where I am. Just stroll out and we'll pretend we've been to the
Country Club.

"I know that I've been horrid to you all my life, critical and
pharisaic. You can pay me back for it now. You can refuse to
help me if you want to. I shan't blame you. But, oh, dear, let
me go away alone, just for a little while anyway. Let nature try
and heal.

"I have my bag and toilet articles. Money is all I want--money
and perhaps just one person in my family to wish me well.

"RUTH."

I glanced at the clock It was just quarter of six. There was no
opportunity of laying this question on the table and waiting for the
clearing light of morning to help me make a wise decision. This was an
occasion when a woman's intuition must be relied upon. As I stood there
with Ruth's letter in my hand, swift and sure was the conviction that
came to me. I must help Ruth get away. She would surely escape sometime
from the kind of bondage Tom was planning to place her under. If not
tonight, or next week, then a month hence. Was it not better for her to
go, even though suddenly and shockingly, with the God-speed and the
trust of some one in her own family?

Is it ever wise to cut the last thread that holds a girl to those who
have loved and cherished her? I thought not. Perhaps the slender thread
that now existed between Ruth and me might be the means of drawing a
stouter cord, which in its turn might haul a cable, strong and reliable.
I did not think then of the possible dangers in New York--the
difficulties, the risks; there was no time to discuss, no time for
doubts and misgivings; there was simply time for me to fill out two
blank checks for twenty-five dollars each, put on my hat and coat, and
speed with all possible haste to the station.

I found Ruth eagerly awaiting me in the train-shed. There were crowds of
people hastening here and there with bags and suit-cases. There were
trucks and train-men. There was the roar of an incoming train. Through
the confusion Ruth's anxious eyes looked straight into mine.

"Well?"

"Is this your train?" I a