Then Nina lifted the basket. "You did not surely carry this through the streets?"
"I had Shadrach, our boy, with me. He carried it. It is not from me, exactly; though I have been so glad to come with it."
"And who sent it?" said Nina, quickly, with her fingers trembling on its lid. If Anton had thought to send anything to her, that anything should suffice.
"It was Rebecca Loth who thought of it, and who asked me to come," said Ruth.
Then Nina drew back her fingers as though they were burned, and walked away from the table with quick angry steps. "Why should Rebecca Loth send anything to me?" she said. "What is there in the basket?"
"She has written a little line. It is at the top. But she has asked me to say — "
"What has she asked you to say? Why should she say anything to me?"
"Nay, Nina; she is very good, and she loves you."
"I do not want her love."
"I am to say to you that she has heard of your distress, and she hopes that a girl like you will let a girl like her do what she can to comfort you."