"Have you any plans for the future, Ralph?"
"A good many, Ruth, but the chances are they will come to nothing. One thing my prison experience has allowed me, and that is time to think. If I can work out half my dreams there will be topsy-turvydom in St. Goram." And he smiled again.
"Then you have not given up hope?"
"Not quite, Ruth. But first of all I must see mother and get her out of the workhouse."
"You will have to earn some money and take a house first. You see, everything has gone, Ralph."
"Which means an absolutely fresh start, and from the bottom," he answered. "But never mind, when you build from the bottom you are pretty sure of your foundation."
"Oh, it does me good to hear you talk like that," she said, the tears coming into her eyes again.
"I hope I'm not altogether a coward, sis," he said, with a smile. "It'll be a hard struggle, I know; but, at any rate, I have something to live for."
"That's bravely said." And she leant over and kissed him.
"Now we must stop talking, and act," he went on. "I must get William Menire to lend me his trap, and I must drive over to see mother."