"Thank you."
Ruth had a mind to ask "Who, then, had brought them?" but refrained.
She had guessed, and pretty surely.
"Well," she said with half a laugh, "you have been good and given me time to recover. It's heavy odds, you see, and—and I have not been trained for it, exactly. But I feel better. Shall we go back and face them?"
"One moment, again!" Mrs. Harry's kindly face hung out signals of
distress. "It's heavy odds, as you say. Everything's against you.
But the Lord knows I'm a well-meaning woman, and I'd hate to be unjust.
If only I could be sure—if only you would tell me—"
Ruth stood still and faced her.
"Look in my eyes."
Mrs. Harry looked and was convinced. "But you love him," she murmured; "and he—"
"Ah, ma'am," said Ruth, "I answer you one question, and you would ask me another!"