“You wouldn't have to tell him, would you?”
“Yes'm. Men folks has got terrible curious minds. They're all right if they don't know there's nothin', but if they does, why they's keen.”
“Perhaps you're right, Hepsey,” she replied, biting her lips. “Sit anywhere you please.”
There were times when Ruth was compelled to admit that Hepsey's mental gifts were fully equal to her own. It was unreasonable to suppose, even for an instant, that Joe and Hepsey had not pondered long and earnestly upon the subject of the light in the attic window, yet the argument was unanswerable. The matter had long since lost its interest for Ruth—perhaps because she was too happy to care.
Winfield had easily acquired the habit of bringing her his morning papers, and, after the first embarrassment, Ruth settled down to it in a businesslike way. Usually, she sat in Miss Hathaway's sewing chair, under a tree a little way from the house, that she might at the same time have a general supervision of her domain, while Winfield stretched himself upon the grass at her feet. When the sun was bright, he wore his dark glasses, thereby gaining an unfair advantage.
After breakfast, which was a movable feast at the “Widder's,” he went after his mail and brought hers also. When he reached the top of the hill, she was always waiting for him.
“This devotion is very pleasing,” he remarked, one morning.
“Some people are easily pleased,” she retorted. “I dislike to spoil your pleasure, but my stern regard for facts compels me to say that it is not Mr. Winfield I wait for, but the postman.”
“Then I'll always be your postman, for I 'do admire' to be waited for, as they have it at the 'Widder's.' Of course, it's more or less of an expense—this morning, for instance, I had to dig up two cents to get one of your valuable manuscripts out of the clutches of an interested government.”
“That's nothing,” she assured him, “for I save you a quarter every day, by taking Joe's place as reader to Your Highness, not to mention the high tariff on the Sunday papers. Besides, the manuscripts are all in now.”