She realized now what Kirk had realized from the first, that what had forced his life apart from hers had been the golden wedge of her father’s money. It was the burden of wealth that had weighed her down without her knowing it. She felt as if she had been suddenly set free.
“I’m dreadfully sorry,” said Sybil feebly.
Ruth laughed again.
“I’m not,” she said. “If you knew how glad I was you would be congratulating me instead of looking as if you thought I was going to bite you.”
“Glad!”
“Of course I’m glad. Everything’s going to be all right again now. Sybil dear, Kirk and I had the most awful quarrel the other day. We—we actually decided it would be better for us to separate. It was all my fault. I had neglected Kirk, and I had neglected Bill, and Kirk couldn’t stand it any longer. But now that this has happened, don’t you see that it will be all right again? You can’t stand on your dignity when you’re up against real trouble. If this had not happened, neither of us would have had the pluck to make the first move; but now, you see, we shall just naturally fall into each other’s arms and be happy again, he and I and Bill, just as we were before.”
“It must be lovely for you having Bill,” said little Mrs. Bailey wistfully. “I wish—”
She stopped. There was a corner of her mind into which she could not admit any one, even Ruth.
“Having him ought to have been enough for any woman.” Ruth’s voice was serious. “It was enough for me in the old days when we were at the studio. What fools women are sometimes! I suppose I lost my head, coming suddenly into all that money—I don’t know why; for it was not as if I had not had plenty of time, when father was alive, to get used to the idea of being rich. I think it must have been the unexpectedness of it. I certainly did behave as if I had gone mad. Goodness! I’m glad it’s over and that we can make a fresh start.”
“What is it like being poor, Ruth? Of course, we were never very well off at home, but we weren’t really poor.”