f the aged father in the upper room, that father knew what the
topic must be. On all other matters the son and brother had become more
silent than ever,--was being nicknamed far and near, flatteringly and
otherwise, for his reticence; but let Ruth sit down with him alone and
barely draw near this theme,--this wound,--and his speech bled from him
and would not be stanched.

"I can admit I have made the mistake of my life," he said, "but I cannot
and will not, even now, give up and say there is nothing to be saved out
of it. It's a mistake that has bound me to her, to you, to Godfrey, to
him, to all, and demands of me, pinioned and blindfolded as I am, every
effort I can make, every device I can contrive, to compel him to free
her and you and all of us from this torture.

"He shall not go on eating out our lives. I have dawdled with him
weakly, pitifully, but I did it in my hope to save him. I tried to save
him for his own sake, Ruth, truly,--as truly as for her sake and ours;
and I wanted to save his work with him,--his church, his and hers; so
much of it is hers. Oh, Ruth, I love that little bird-box, spite of all
its spunky beliefs and twittering complacencies. I wanted to save it and
him; and over and over there has seemed such good ground of hope in him.
It's been always so unbelievable that he should utterly fail us.
Ruth, if you could have seen his contrition the night I tore up that
shameful, servile resignation! I don't need to see Isabel to know he
is wearing the soul out of her. You needn't have answered one of my
questions,--which I honor you for answering so unwillingly; Mrs. Morris
gave me their answer in five minutes, though we talked only of
investments. And Mrs. Morris needn't have given it; to see Arthur
himself is enough. All the genuineness has gone out of the man,--out of
his words, out of his face, out of his voice. I wonder it hasn't gone
from all of us, driven out by this smirking masquerade into which he
has trapped us."

"Have you determined what to do?" as

Martha Finley (1828 - 1909) was a teacher and author of numerous works, the most well known being the 28 volume Elsie Dinsmore series which was published over a span of 38 years. The daughter of Presbyterian minister Dr. James Brown Finley and his wife and cousin Maria Theresa Brown Finley, she was born on April 26th, 1828 in Chillicothe, Ohio. Finley wrote many of her books under the psodonym Martha Farquharson. She died in 1909 in Elkton, Maryland, where she moved in 1876.

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