Why didn't you tell me? I am sure I
could have made you happier, if you had! You love her, Tom, so dearly!'
Tom made a motion with his hand as if he would have put his sister
hurriedly away; but it clasped upon hers, and all his little history
was written in the action. All its pathetic eloquence was in the silent
touch.
'In spite of that,' said Ruth, 'you have been so faithful and so good,
dear; in spite of that, you have been so true and self-denying, and have
struggled with yourself; in spite of that, you have been so gentle,
and so kind, and even-tempered, that I have never seen you give a hasty
look, or heard you say one irritable word. In spite of all, you have
been so cruelly mistaken. Oh Tom, dear Tom, will THIS be set right too!
Will it, Tom? Will you always have this sorrow in your breast; you who
deserve to be so happy; or is there any hope?'
And still she hid her face from Tom, and clasped him round the neck,
and wept for him, and poured out all her woman's heart and soul in the
relief and pain of this disclosure.
It was not very long before she and Tom were sitting side by side, and
she was looking with an earnest quietness in Tom's face.
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