"Rubbish, Ruth; who should I trust if not my own brother? and besides, I've got my eyes open, and am able to look out for myself."
"But, John, do forgive me for saying it, you didn't look out for yourself even this evening, for you let Dick give you more brandy than you have ever been in the habit of taking, and it has made you quite unlike yourself, and I cannot help being afraid of what may happen if you go away with him."
"I suppose you mean to say I'm drunk," angrily cried John.
"No, John, I can't say that; but it wouldn't take much more brandy to make you so."
"Then you'd best go home by yourself, for I'm no fit company for you," and John roughly threw Ruth's hand off his arm, and turned back with unsteady footsteps towards the town. The girl stood dismayed. John was indeed quite unlike himself, to leave her in a lonely road to find her way home unattended. She waited for some time, hoping that he would relent, but the last sound of his footsteps died away, and presently she slowly walked on.
"Why, where's John?" asked cook, as Ruth entered the kitchen.
"Oh, he'll be in directly, I expect. He's just turned back for something. You go off to bed, and I'll see to the fire," carelessly returned Ruth.
"Something wrong, I believe," said cook to herself, as she lit her candle, and followed Jane upstairs.
For an hour Ruth waited, and then, unable to bear the suspense, she threw a shawl over her head, and slipped down to the garden gate to watch for John. At length, shivering with cold, she was about to return to the house, when she heard in the distance the noisy snatch of a song. "It can't be John, of course; but I'll just hide behind the laurels till the drunken fellow has passed," thought Ruth. Nearer and nearer came the sound, till, with beating heart, Ruth stepped into the moonlight, and laid her hand on the lips that were profaning the stillness of the midnight air.
"Oh, John; hush, hush! If master should hear you! Oh, what have you been doing, my poor boy?" John made but a feeble resistance to the strong loving hands that drew him into the house.