"My views, exactly, John; besides, it's setting her judgment against yours, which I wouldn't think of allowing, even at this early juncture," said Mr. Groombridge, with a serio-comic expression.
"Oh, father, you wouldn't think of allowing, indeed, when only a few minutes ago, you declared that mother's judgment was ever so much better than yours, and that ever since you had known her, you had trusted to it more than to your own," cried Kate.
"My dear, your remark is quite irrelevant," and Mr. Groombridge dismissed the inconvenient topic with John and Ruth.
"Don't be angry with me, John; I couldn't do anything else," timidly said Ruth, as she followed John back to the conservatory.
"I'm not pleased with you, Ruth, I must say. I should like the woman I have chosen to have so much self respect that she would feel it impossible to stoop to degrade herself, as you seem to think you could easily do."
"Oh, John, I thought you would understand me better than that, for you know so much more than I could tell master and mistress. Why, John, don't you know how the curse of drink blighted my own home, and made my early years a misery? Can I ever forget the nightly horror when my mother staggered home to rouse the neighbourhood with her drunken shouts and blasphemies? Can I forget the dear little ones I nursed while they pined away to sink into untimely graves? Can I forget my father's life-long bitterness and premature end? And if I could forget these things, how could I forget the dying despair, the loathing of her sin, and yet the unconquerable craving of disease that held my poor mother captive through her last hours!"
"Dear Ruthie, hush; don't recall those memories. A brighter life is before you, and all I blame you for is because you imagine that without binding yourself you might follow in your mother's footsteps."
"That is where you are wrong, John," said Ruth, looking up at him with sorrowful eyes: "At my age my mother was no more a slave to drink than I am. She only took it in moderation, and if any one had suggested to her that she was in danger of becoming an habitual drinker, she would have been indignant. It was only because she found that a little stimulant revived her, when she was weak and ailing, that she began to take it frequently, till by and bye the habit became so strong, that though she tried hard to break it she could not, and why should I be stronger than my own mother?"
"Well, darling, have it your own way. I shall not alter my opinion of you; but I won't argue the point. Now, dry your eyes, and be happy;" and being an obedient woman, Ruth dismissed her tears, and smiled up at John.
"Ruth," said John presently; "how is it that you are afraid for yourself, and yet not afraid for me?"