"I do think of it," said Ruth, smiling at the happy picture Jemima drew. And both smiling at the hopeful prospect before them, they parted--never to meet again in life.
No sooner had Mrs Farquhar gone than Sally burst in.
"Oh! dear, dear!" said she, looking around her. "If I had but known that the rector was coming to call, I"d ha" put on the best covers, and the Sunday tablecloth! You"re well enough," continued she, surveying Ruth from head to foot; "you"re always trim and dainty in your gowns, though I reckon they cost but tuppence a yard, and you"ve a face to set "em off; but as for you" (as she turned to Miss Benson), "I think you might ha" had something better on than that old stuff, if it had only been to do credit to a parishioner like me, whom he has known ever sin" my father was his clerk."
"You forget, Sally, I have been making jelly all the morning. How could I tell it was Mr Grey when there was a knock at the door?" Miss Benson replied.
"You might ha" letten me do the jelly; I"se warrant I could ha"
pleased Ruth as well as you. If I had but known he was coming, I"d ha" slipped round the corner and bought ye a neck-ribbon, or summut to lighten ye up. I"se loath he should think I"m living with Dissenters, that don"t know how to keep themselves trig and smart."
"Never mind, Sally; he never thought of me. What he came for, was to see Ruth; and, as you say, she"s always neat and dainty."
"Well! I reckon it cannot be helped now; but if I buy ye a ribbon, will you promise to wear it when church-folks come? for I cannot abide the way they have of scoffing at the Dissenters about their dress."
"Very well! we"ll make that bargain," said Miss Benson; "and now, Ruth, I"ll go and fetch you a cup of warm jelly."
"Oh! indeed, Aunt Faith," said Ruth, "I am very sorry to balk you; but if you"re going to treat me as an invalid, I am afraid I shall rebel."
But when she found that Aunt Faith"s heart was set upon it, she submitted very graciously, only dimpling up a little, as she found that she must consent to lie on the sofa, and be fed, when, in truth, she felt full of health, with a luxurious sensation of languor stealing over her now and then, just enough to make it very pleasant to think of the salt breezes, and the sea beauty which awaited her at Abermouth.
Mr Davis called in the afternoon, and his visit was also to Ruth. Mr and Miss Benson were sitting with her in the parlour, and watching her with contented love, as she employed herself in household sewing, and hopefully spoke about the Abermouth plan.
"Well! so you had our worthy rector here to-day; I am come on something of the same kind of errand; only I shall spare you the reading of my letter, which, I"ll answer for it, he did not. Please to take notice," said he, putting down a sealed letter, "that I have delivered you a vote of thanks from my medical brothers; and open and read it at your leisure; only not just now, for I want to have a little talk with you on my own behoof. I want to ask you a favour, Mrs Denbigh."
"A favour!" exclaimed Ruth; "what can I do for you? I think I may say I will do it, without hearing what it is."
"Then you"re a very imprudent woman," replied he; "however, I"ll take you at your word. I want you to give me your boy."
"Leonard!"
"Aye! there it is, you see, Mr Benson. One minute she is as ready as can be, and the next, she looks at me as if I was an ogre!"
"Perhaps we don"t understand what you mean," said Mr Benson.
"The thing is this. You know I"ve no children; and I can"t say I"ve ever fretted over it much; but my wife has; and whether it is that she has infected me, or that I grieve over my good practice going to a stranger, when I ought to have had a son to take it after me, I don"t know; but, of late, I"ve got to look with covetous eyes on all healthy boys, and at last I"ve settled down my wishes on this Leonard of yours, Mrs Denbigh."
Ruth could not speak; for, even yet, she did not understand what he meant. He went on:
"Now, how old is the lad?" He asked Ruth, but Miss Benson replied:
"He"ll be twelve next February."
"Umph! only twelve! He"s tall and old-looking for his age. You look young enough, it is true." He said this last sentence as if to himself, but seeing Ruth crimson up, he abruptly changed his tone.
"Twelve, is he! Well, I take him from now. I don"t mean that I really take him away from you," said he, softening all at once, and becoming grave and considerate. "His being your son--the son of one whom I have seen--as I have seen you, Mrs Denbigh (out and out the best nurse I ever met with, Miss Benson; and good nurses are things we doctors know how to value)--his being your son is his great recommendation to me; not but what the lad himself is a n.o.ble boy.
I shall be glad to leave him with you as long and as much as we can; he could not be tied to your ap.r.o.n-strings all his life, you know.
Only I provide for his education, subject to your consent and good pleasure, and he is bound apprentice to me. I, his guardian, bind him to myself, the first surgeon in Eccleston, be the other who he may; and in process of time he becomes partner, and some day or other succeeds me. Now, Mrs Denbigh, what have you got to say against this plan? My wife is just as full of it as me. Come! begin with your objections. You"re not a woman if you have not a whole bag-full of them ready to turn out against any reasonable proposal."
"I don"t know," faltered Ruth. "It is so sudden--"
"It is very, very kind of you, Mr Davis," said Miss Benson, a little scandalised at Ruth"s non-expression of grat.i.tude.
"Pooh! pooh! I"ll answer for it, in the long run, I am taking good care of my own interests. Come, Mrs Denbigh, is it a bargain?"
Now Mr Benson spoke.
"Mr Davis, it is rather sudden, as she says. As far as I can see, it is the best as well as the kindest proposal that could have been made; but I think we must give her a little time to think about it."
"Well, twenty-four hours! Will that do?"
Ruth lifted up her head. "Mr Davis, I am not ungrateful because I can"t thank you" (she was crying while she spoke); "let me have a fortnight to consider about it. In a fortnight I will make up my mind. Oh, how good you all are!"
"Very well. Then this day fortnight--Thursday the 28th--you will let me know your decision. Mind! if it"s against me, I shan"t consider it a decision, for I"m determined to carry my point. I"m not going to make Mrs Denbigh blush, Mr Benson, by telling you, in her presence, of all I have observed about her this last three weeks, that has made me sure of the good qualities I shall find in this boy of hers. I was watching her when she little thought it. Do you remember that night when Hector O"Brien was so furiously delirious, Mrs Denbigh?"
Ruth went very white at the remembrance.
"Why now, look there! how pale she is at the very thought of it. And yet, I a.s.sure you, she was the one to go up and take the piece of gla.s.s from him which he had broken out of the window for the sole purpose of cutting his throat, or the throat of any one else, for that matter. I wish we had some others as brave as she is."
"I thought the great panic was pa.s.sed away!" said Mr Benson.
"Aye! the general feeling of alarm is much weaker; but, here and there, there are as great fools as ever. Why, when I leave here, I am going to see our precious member, Mr Donne--"
"Mr Donne?" said Ruth.
"Mr Donne, who lies ill at the Queen"s--came last week, with the intention of canva.s.sing, but was too much alarmed by what he heard of the fever to set to work; and, in spite of all his precautions, he has taken it; and you should see the terror they are in at the hotel; landlord, landlady, waiters, servants--all; there"s not a creature will go near him, if they can help it; and there"s only his groom--a lad he saved from drowning, I"m told--to do anything for him. I must get him a proper nurse, somehow or somewhere, for all my being a Cranworth man. Ah, Mr Benson! you don"t know the temptations we medical men have. Think, if I allowed your member to die now, as he might very well, if he had no nurse--how famously Mr Cranworth would walk over the course!--Where"s Mrs Denbigh gone to? I hope I"ve not frightened her away by reminding her of Hector O"Brien, and that awful night, when I do a.s.sure you she behaved like a heroine!"
As Mr Benson was showing Mr Davis out, Ruth opened the study-door, and said, in a very calm, low voice:
"Mr Benson! will you allow me to speak to Mr Davis alone?"
Mr Benson immediately consented, thinking that, in all probability, she wished to ask some further questions about Leonard; but as Mr Davis came into the room, and shut the door, he was struck by her pale, stern face of determination, and awaited her speaking first.
"Mr Davis! I must go and nurse Mr Bellingham," said she at last, clenching her hands tight together, but no other part of her body moving from its intense stillness.
"Mr Bellingham?" asked he, astonished at the name.
"Mr Donne, I mean," said she, hurriedly. "His name was Bellingham."
"Oh! I remember hearing he had changed his name for some property.
But you must not think of any more such work just now. You are not fit for it. You are looking as white as ashes."
"I must go," she repeated.
"Nonsense! Here"s a man who can pay for the care of the first hospital nurses in London--and I doubt if his life is worth the risk of one of theirs even, much more of yours."
"We have no right to weigh human lives against each other."
"No! I know we have not. But it"s a way we doctors are apt to get into; and, at any rate, it"s ridiculous of you to think of such a thing. Just listen to reason."