"Gilbert, why did you stop me just now? And why did you not admit this poor child free? You can, can you not?"
"I can; but don't you see how interested old Trulock is in them? Is it not the very thing we could have wished for the poor old fellow—something to draw him out of his shell? And would you interfere with him? You'll find that this fourpence a week will be paid by Ralph himself, and that by degrees he'll give more care and thought to these children than if we took them up. Then he would feel that they were all right; but if we leave them to him, he won't neglect them. Why, he looked quite softened when he spoke of them."
"I should never have thought of all that!" cried May admiringly. "It is not for nothing that you come from the North, sir. You are a long-headed personage. Poor old Ralph! I do like him, Gilbert."
Ralph went to see Ruth, and found her hard at work, and Ollie sitting beside her, looking, with his soft bright eyes and restless movements, not unlike a newly-caught bird in a cage. Ruth explained his presence by telling her friend that some of the boys had had a fight, and had hurt one another, and Ollie had run home quite horrified. This smoothed the way for the mention of the school, at the idea of which, particularly when the "good dinner" was mentioned, Ruth's sweet brown eyes glistened with joy. Ollie was glad, too, for he liked learning, though he was nervous at the notion of going among strangers alone.
"But you must go alone, for I could not spare time to go with you, Ollie. And besides, I don't know them any more than you do," said Ruth.
"I will come for you and go with you the first day, Ollie," said Ralph, not without a feeling of surprise at himself.
"Mr. Trulock, I do think you are the kindest person in the world!" cried Ruth earnestly.
"You won't find many to agree with you there," replied Ralph drily.
"That fat woman called you Old Crusty," remarked Ollie.
"You should not have said that Ollie," Ruth said reprovingly. "She did not mean Mr. Trulock to hear it. Well, sir, I hope our grandfather may turn out to be just like you," she added, turning to Ralph.