Late in the afternoon, something was needed to complete Roberta's
preparations which could be procured only in a downtown shop, and Ruth
volunteered to order the brougham--now on runners--and go down for it.
She left the house alone, but she did not complete her journey alone,
for halfway down the two-mile boulevard she passed a figure she knew,
and turned to bestow a girlish bow and smile.
Richard Kendrick not only took off his hat but waved it with a gesture
of entreaty, as he quickened his steps, and Ruth, much excited by the
encounter, bade Thomas stop the horses.
"Would you take a passenger?" he asked as he came up; "unless, of
course, you're going to stop for some one else?"
"Do get in," she urged shyly. "No, I'm all alone--going on an errand."
"I guessed it--not the errand, but the being alone. You looked so small,
wrapped up in all these furs, I felt you needed company," explained
Richard, smiling down into the animated young face, with its delicate
colour showing fresh and fair in the frosty air. There was something
very attractive to the young man in this girl, who seemed to him the
embodiment of sweetness and purity.
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