Ruth stopped in her tracks and turned to face her companion.
“At Nogalouche. Why?”
“Philip Westgate! Do you know that that’s where Jane Chichester has gone? Her sister told me so yesterday. Do you—do you think she’ll get him?”
“Heaven knows! Persistence is a jewel; and the man can’t elude her forever.”
“Poor Barry!”
“Why poor Barry? He might go farther and fare worse.”
“Well, I don’t know. I don’t think—but it’s nothing for me to worry about, after all.”
“No.”
They walked on in silence for a minute, then Ruth remembered something that she wanted to say to him:
“Philip, there’s another thing I want to thank you for. Mrs. Malleson told me. She said it was not to be known. I don’t know why she should tell me, but she did. It was about how you prevailed upon Mr. Malleson to take back the men who had left him, and give them their old places. Philip, it was—it was heavenly in you to do that.”