"I believe they would." The doctor glanced from his daughter to his wife, who was looking very serious and thoughtful. "What do you think of my plan, Helen?" he inquired.
"That it requires consideration," she replied gravely; "I daresay it might answer, but then it might not. Don't let us act hastily and afterwards regret it. Let us take time to think the matter over."
"You are quite right, my dear," Dr. Reed agreed. "You and I are a great deal too impulsive, Ann; we need the little mother to keep us in check."
Ann looked disappointed, but only for a minute, and, meeting Mrs. Reed's glance, she smiled. She had perfect confidence that her mother would advise what she considered would be right and for the best.
"I think Ruth is such a pretty name," she said; "and I am sure, from the little you have told us about her, father, that she is a nice girl. I have always longed to have a companion of my own age. Do tell me exactly what she is like in appearance."
"She's about your height and size, and she has regular features, brown eyes, and brown hair. I am afraid that description is not very distinctive. What struck me most in connection with her was the way in which all the others appealed to her about nearly everything; really, she might have had the management of the household, poor child! No wonder her father spoke of her as his right hand!"
"What would he do without her, then?" Mrs. Reed inquired. "Do you think he would be willing to part with her, Andrew?"
"He is the sort of man who would not consider himself in the matter in the least, he would think only of what would be best for his child."
"And the mother?" questioned Mrs. Reed.
"I cannot answer for her," Dr. Reed answered dubiously; "she struck me as an affectionate wife and mother, but I should say she is rather a weak, undecided kind of person. Wyndham married her when she was very young, she had but just left school, I believe. She was an only child, an orphan, and, as she had been left unprovided for in infancy, she had been brought up and educated by an uncle who was only too glad to get her off his hands, as he had a family of his own. So you see she was quite an inexperienced girl at the time she married, with no knowledge whatever of housekeeping or the worth of money, and I fear she is not much wiser on either point now."