“I do not understand it at all,—neither Ruth nor him.”
“Surely you don’t think Ruth knew anything of this?” questioned Mrs. Lewis, leaning forward and raising her voice in horror.
“Of course not,” returned Mrs. Levice, rather lamely. She had long ago acknowledged to herself that there were depths in her daughter’s nature that she had never gauged.
“I know what an idol his patients make of him, but he is a man nevertheless; and though you may think it horrible of me, it struck me as very suggestive that he was that girl’s only friend.”
“Therefore he must have been a good friend.”
Mrs. Lewis bounded from her chair and turned a startled face to Mr. Levice, who had thus spoken, standing in the doorway. Mrs. Levice breathed a sigh of hysterical relief.
“Good-afternoon, Jennie,” he said, coming into the room and shaking her hand; “sit down again. Good-afternoon Esther;” he stooped to kiss his wife.
Mrs. Lewis’s hands trembled; she looked, to say the least, ashamed. She had been caught scandal-mongering by her uncle, Jules Levice, the head and pride of the whole family.
“I am sorry I heard what I did, Jennie; sorry to think that you are so poor as to lay the vilest construction on an affair of which you evidently know nothing, and sorry you could not keep your views to yourself.” It was the habit of all of Levice’s relatives to listen in silence to any personal reprimand the dignified old man might offer.
“I heard a good part of your conversation, and I can only characterize it as—petty. Can’t you and your friends see anything without springing at shilling-shocker conclusions? Don’t you know that people sometimes enjoy themselves without any further design? So much for the theatre talk. What is more serious is the fact that you could so misjudge my honorable friend, Dr. Kemp. Such a thing, Jennie, my girl, would be as remote from Dr. Kemp’s possibilities as the antipodes. Remember, what I say is indisputable. Whether Ruth knew the story of this girl or not, I cannot say, but either way I feel assured that what she did was well done—if innocently; if with knowledge, so much the better. And I venture to assert that she is not a whit harmed by the action. In all probability she will tell us all the particulars if we ask her. Otherwise, Jennie, don’t you think you have been unnecessarily alarmed?” The benign gentleness of his question calmed Mrs. Lewis.