Mrs Thornton smiled indulgently.
“I can try, at least. I’m only sorry that I can’t do the same for you. You have not the excuse of home troubles, and I’m afraid Mr Farrell—”
“Oh, never mind me; I don’t count! I have been out of the running from the first, and it is only through an accident that I have stayed so long. I don’t want anything from Mr Farrell but good-feeling and a fair judgment. It cut me up to say good-bye when I saw how feeble he looked. I don’t want you to plead my cause, because I relinquished my claim long ago; but if you get a chance, you might just let him know that I was genuinely sorry to leave him for his own sake.”
Jack’s manly, straightforward speech was just what Mrs Thornton expected from him, and she gladly consented to convey his message to Mr Farrell.
“I will, with pleasure,” she said, “and I shall have the chance before many days are over. Wonders will never cease! When I said just now that the squire was not so hard as he pretended, I spoke out of a full heart. What do you think of his suggesting—actually suggesting to my husband that the vicarage might need renovations, and asking him to send me up to give him my ideas! I nearly fainted when my husband told me. Now, do you think he thought of it himself, or did one of you kind creatures suggest it to him?”
“I didn’t, I know. It would have been as much as my life was worth; but I suspect Miss Mollie may have had something to do with it. She spoke pretty strongly on the subject to me, and she has the courage of her convictions.”
“Oh, that Mollie!” murmured Mrs Thornton under her breath. “I have never met her equal. The dearest, the simplest, the most affectionate of girls!” Her eyes moistened suddenly, and Jack’s face softened in sympathy as he looked across the room to where Mollie stood by her sister’s side. She met the two glances bent upon her, and walked forward in response, leaving Ruth and Victor by themselves.
Poor Ruth! Her heart beat fast with agitation and a last desperate hope born of Victor’s soft tones and regretful eyes. For the moment it seemed that the last few days must have been a nightmare, and that he really did “care”; in which case she was prepared to forgive everything—nay, more, to believe that there was nothing to forgive.
If, in this moment of trouble and humiliation, he would place himself by her side, nothing that she could do in the future would be enough to prove her gratitude and devotion. But, alas! even as Mollie turned away, Victor’s manner altered, and he became nervous and ill at ease. The long, eloquent glances which had been safe enough in the presence of a third person could not be risked in a tête-à-tête, and Ruth’s hopes died a final death. She sat trying to eat her sandwiches, and feeling as if every bite would choke her, while Victor feebly struggled with commonplaces.
The sound of carriage-wheels could be heard drawing near to the door; the last, the very last moment had arrived! Ruth raised her beautiful, sad face and gazed steadily at Victor, and he stopped short in the middle of a sentence, and turned guiltily aside. He could not meet her eyes.