"Oh, I couldn't miss my class for anything; but do you come with me, and we can have a little walk after."
Ruth hesitated. She knew that cook would laugh at her for going, but she was feeling low and depressed, and the thought of a solitary walk was irksome to her.
"Well, I don't mind, just for once. It's miserable to walk by one's self," she said.
So she went to the Bible-class which Alice so regularly attended. The lesson was interesting and impressive, and as, from the lips of the minister's wife who gave it, there fell words of invitation to the sin-burdened and weary, Ruth felt strangely moved. Unconsciously her tears fell, for her heart ached with loneliness and longing as she heard of the Saviour and Friend, who was willing to come into her life and crown it with His forgiving love and mercy. She walked on in silence by the side of her companion.
"How did you like Mrs. Evans?" Alice presently asked.
"She made me feel wretched; I don't want to go again."
"That was just how I felt when I first heard her talk; but do go again, for she will do you so much good."
"You never had such reason as I have to be wretched and miserable," exclaimed Ruth.
"Oh, you don't know; I've had more trouble than I've known how to bear; and then there was the burden of my sins that made me more unhappy than I can tell you," added Alice, timidly.
"I don't know anything about that; but I do know that my life is a burden. I had a wretched home, and when I went to service, and something that seemed too good to be true came, it was just taken from me, and now, I'd like to die and be out of my misery."