he lowest shelf of the oak chest in the
hall--I'll send it down to her at once."

Ruth fetched the basket and put it down by her aunt. Reminiscences of
the school-feast still remained in it, in the shape of ends of ribbon
and lace, and Mrs. Alwynn began to empty them out, talking all the time,
when she suddenly stopped short, with an exclamation of surprise.

"Goodness! Well, now! I'm sure! Ruth!"

"What is it, Aunt Fanny?"

"Why, my dear, if there isn't a letter for you under the odds and ends,"
holding it up and gazing resentfully at it; "and now I remember, a
letter came for you on the morning of the school-feast, and I said to
John, 'I sha'n't forward it, because I shall see Ruth this afternoon,'
and, dear me! I just popped it into the basket, for I thought you would
like to have it, and you know how busy I was, Ruth, that day, first one
thing and then another, so much to think of--and--_there it is_."

"I dare say it is of no importance," said Ruth, taking it from her,
while Mrs. Alwynn, repeatedly wondering how such a thing could have
happened to a person so careful as herself, went off with her basket to
the cook.

When she returned in a few minutes she found Ruth standing by the
window, the letter open in her hand, her face without a vestige of
color.

"Why, Ruth," she said, actually noticing the alteration in her
appearance, "is your head bad again?"

Ruth started violently.

"Yes--no. I mean--I think I will go out. The fresh air--"

She could not finish the sentence.

"And that tiresome letter--did it want an answer?"

"None," said Ruth, crushing it up unconsciously.

"Well, now," said Mrs. Alwynn, "that's a good thing, for I'm sure I
shall never forget the way your uncle was in once, when I put a letter
of his in my pocket to give him (it was a plum-colored silk, Ruth, done
with gold beads in front), and then I went into mourning for my poor
dear Uncle James--such an out-of-the-common person he was, Ruth, and
such a beautiful talker--and it was not till six months later--niece's
mourning, you know--that I had the dress on again--and a business I had
to meet it, for all my gowns seem to shrink when they are put by--and I
put my hand in the pocket, and--"

But Ruth had disappeared.

Mrs. Alwynn was perfectly certain at last that something must be wrong
with her niece. Earlier in the day she had had a headache. Reasoning by
analogy, she decided that Ruth must have eaten something at Mrs.
Thur