CHAPTER LII
THE RETURN OF THE OUTCAST
It was in Mrs. Trupp's home, in a back-water of the East-end, that Ruth's child was born.
The babe was beautiful, but over the mother a shadow lay.
"It's her people," Mr. Trupp told his wife. "She hasn't broken it to them yet."
"I know," Mrs. Trupp answered. "I must talk to her about it."
Ruth, curled in her bed, giving satisfaction to the babe in the hollow of her arm, showed every sign of distress when the other broached the topic.
"Will you trust me to tell them?" asked the lady gently. Ruth raised her fine eyes, brimming with gratitude to the elder woman's face.
Mrs. Trupp went.
Before she started on her pilgrimage of love she passed an hour in the parish-church, which was her favourite resort in all the crises of her life.
There the Archdeacon came on her, to his surprise.