"Why not let me take charge until you return," asked Harry, speaking for the first time.
"And I can help," added Alec.
"Now you see it's all fixed," said Flora.
"Surely you're not afraid to trust us, are you?" asked Harry, as he saw his old friend still undecided.
"No, no; it's not that, my boy; only——"
"Only nothing," interrupted Flora, laughingly. "You must come, so say no more about it." And she caught his arm and led him away, an unwilling and unbelieving captive.
Ruth opened the door in answer to Flora's gentle tap. The latter could no longer restrain her impatience.
"Now, Major Joe," she exclaimed, softly, for fear of disturbing the sick man, "whom does this little sobersides remind you of?"
At first the old man looked from one to the other in a bewildered manner. Then his eyes rested on Ruth's face long and attentively. The tears gathered, and he involuntarily held out his hand, and said, softly, "Ruthie."
Scarcely realizing what she was doing, Ruth, probably drawn by the tender, loving tone that touched her heart, put her own in it.