“I tell you right now, young man,” said Mr. Pendleton more vigorously, “that nothing could be worse than this accident, it seems to me. Oh! nothing could be worse.”
“I’m sorry to hear you say that,” Luke rejoined, but cheerfully. Ruth gave him an illuminating look. “You know, Mr. Pendleton, this is a time when friends come mighty handy to a man——”
The man’s face fell. He shook his head despondently.
“I’ve got very few friends just now, and no work at all. I—I was discharged from my last position two months ago and have been unable to find anything to do at all. I tell you frankly that I am in the worst possible shape to endure a sick spell.”
“Don’t feel downhearted, Mr. Pendleton,” Ruth said quickly. “Perhaps you will not be laid up long after all. And when you are well I am sure we can find something to do. My name is Kenway. I live with my sisters in the old Corner House.”
“I know you do, Miss,” said Mr. Pendleton. “I have seen you girls before. But I doubt if you could find me work.”
“Oh, yes, we can,” she said. “Or, at least, our guardian can. Mr. Howbridge, the lawyer, is our guardian.”
The man again shook his head, and his brow was furrowed.
“You can’t help me in that way, Miss Kenway,” he said. “And I doubt if your guardian would let you.”
“Why, what do you mean?” cried Ruth.