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 "Yes, it was a whim of mine, but I afterwards thought otherwise; but John, it seems, did not. Come, mother, let's out of the old and into the new. One will do for me, and thee keep the other for linen."

Matthew seeing, as usual, that he was wholly ignored by Ruth, and that his words would fall in all likelihood on deaf ears, turned away with some low muttered words that neither woman heard, and in a short time after they were left to themselves the unpacking and repacking was accomplished. Then Ruth said, "Now, mother, let me be alone here in my little room awhile. I go to-morrow, thee knows, and I would be alone; but, mother dear, I will join thee very soon, and then—" But Ruth's emotions overcame her, and, resting her head on her mother's shoulder, she wept bitterly.

How few in that community knew what a trying ordeal was hers, and how bravely she was passing through it! But when, an hour later, she left her room, it was to greet her mother with the old-time winning smiles, and as she sat, as she had so often done, at