"Ruth," she said gently, "I have news for thee. A message has come——"
Ruth started forward, the color ebbing out of her face.
"From Herbert?" she whispered.
"Yes, there is a message from Herbert. Is thee strong enough to bear a shock——"
"A shock? Then he is dead?"
"No, no, I did not mean that. But we have news—some one has come——"
"Some one has come—Herbert?" and without waiting for the preparation that her mother had intended, she rushed into the house. For an instant she stood inside the door with white face and distended eyes. Then, hearing the low murmur of voices, she dashed aside the curtains, and saw Herbert lying on the bed.
The two young people uttered a simultaneous cry, and a moment later were locked in each other's arms. It was not for many minutes that Ruth could look at him, that she saw the wreck that war had made of the handsome boy she had loved. But when she did see it made no difference in her love. With the wealth of mother-love that had always overflowed her gentle heart she soothed and comforted him, told him that he would soon be well, and promised that she would nurse him back to life and health.
The next day she went quietly to her father and told him that she wanted him to marry them.
"It will take months to nurse him back to himself, Father," she told him, "and I am the one who can do it best. I can give him better care as his wife than I could as his sweetheart, and I want to marry him right now."