The question was asked in a hoarse whisper, and more by the bright eyes than those trembling lips.
"I—I have not dared to ask. I—I could not leave you here alone," answered Ruth, with a fitful quiver of the lips.
"How long is it?"
"Two days, father."
"Two days, and no news of him."
"They would not keep it from us if he had been worse," said Ruth, who had listened with sickening dread to every footstep that approached the cottage during all that time, fearing the news she expected, and gathering hope because it did not come.
"Has Sir Noel been here?"
"He was here that night," answered Ruth, shuddering, as she thought of the awful scene, when her father was brought home so death-like.
"Not since? He knew that I was hurt, too."
"He has sent the doctors here."