"What is thy fust name?"
"Ruth," answered Mrs. Ashton.
"That is a good Script'al name. May thee, like thy namesake, be worthy of the Lord's blessing."
"What is thy husband's name?"
"Richard," answered Mrs. Ashton.
"And how many children has thee got?"
"We have three, a boy and two girls," and then, as if in anticipation of the old lady's next question, she added: "Their names are Edward, Alice Maud, and Mary; Edward is fourteen, Alice Maud is twelve, and Mary is four, she is our baby."
"Thee had a long rest between thy second and third," remarked Aunt
Debie. "Did thee lose any?"
Ruth Ashton's face flushed slightly, for Aunt Debie was like a new revelation to her; she had never met anyone like her before, but she good-naturedly answered "No" to her question.
Mrs. Gurney now told Ruth she had better leave the old lady, for she was very inquisitive, and added, by way of explanation: "She has been blind and deaf so long that she seems to have forgotten that some of her questions are hardly in keeping with good manners;" and, she continued, "in her youth, where she was raised, the habits and customs were not as they are here at the present. Then, as she cannot see nor hear, she is naturally more inquisitive."