"But why so?" asked Ruth.
"Isn't it true that you are one of the Shirley scholars now?"
"I am; I joined the school to-day."
"And yet you come to fetch beer for your old grandfather!"
"I do," said Ruth, with spirit. "And I shall fetch it for him as long as he wants it. Thank you very much."
She took the jug and walked carefully back to the cottage.
"She's the handsomest, most spirited, best little thing I ever met," thought the landlady of the "Lion," and she began to consider in her own mind if one of her men could not call round in the morning and leave the necessary beer at the Cravens'.
Supper was served, and was eaten with considerable relish by all three.
"Now," said old granny when the meal had come to an end, "you stay and talk to your grandfather—he is all agog to hear what you have got to say—and I will wash up. Now then, child, don't you worry. It isn't everybody who has got loving grandparents like us."
"And it isn't many old bodies who have got such a dear little granddaughter," said the old man, smiling at Ruth.