"If I spoke to him, my interest might be misinterpreted."
"Where did you go to school?" Prudence asked, seeking a new channel, for the old one appeared to be full of hidden reefs.
"I never went to school."
"But you are educated!"—astonished.
"That depends upon what you call educated. Still, my tutor was a highly educated scholar—my father." Neither spinster noticed the reluctance in the tones.
"Ah! I see. He suddenly realized that he could not keep you for ever in this part of the world; so he sends you to your aunt. That dress! Only a man—and an unworldly one—would have permitted you to proceed on your adventure dressed in a gown thirty years out of date. What is your father's business?"
The question was an impertinence, but Ruth was not aware of that.
"Souls," she answered, drily.
"A missioner! That illuminates everything." The spinster's face actually became warm. "You will finish your education in the East and return. I see."
"No. I shall never come back."