There was not a crumb of bread in the cupboard, not a stick with which to make a fire, not a penny in the girl’s pocket, so no wonder she stood looking out of the window with dismay in her face.
The window was a little open, and through the opening came three flakes of snow.
They fell upon the brick floor and melted slowly away.
Ruth shuddered; it was the first snow of the year, it might mean the beginning of a long, hard, cruel winter.
She shuddered again, and then of a sudden knelt on the brick floor and clasped her hands in prayer, and this showed she had Faith in her heart.
And as she prayed the sun broke through the snow clouds, and poured in through the window, and shone on the girl’s brown hair. She rose with a smile on her lips and a light dancing in her eyes, for there was Hope in her breast.
Ruth opened the window and took in the withered flowers on the sill.
“Poor flowers,” she said, “you will be warmer inside.”
Now this was Charity, for kindness is Charity, and we can be kind even to flowers.