"Indeed I am!"
"Where?"
"To Worcester, to earn my living as a nurse."
"Listen, Ruth. Let me do something, no matter what. Let me take you, or send you back to the Convent."
"The Convent! The Convent!" she repeated, and her cheeks reddened. "Do you think the Convent a refuge for women who leave it as I did?—for women who elope with—oh! It's for better women than that! They would never allow me within its gates."
"Then let me atone in some way."
"Indeed! And how?"
"In any way you say—there's all my money—take some of it—all of it. Not as a gift, but in some business way. Let me buy something at a——"
"Clever thought! Regild my reputation with Cyrus Alton's money!"