I was simply aching to ask a few questions, but I didn't allow myself even one. "Oh, it's very nice," I replied; "we've been in it two weeks now." "How did the lavender room turn out?" asked Ruth, travelling away as fast as possible from the subject of her engagement. "_Your_ room, Ruth, you mean," I replied patiently. "Very well, I think." "Is it finished yet? I mean could any one sleep in it--to-night?" "Will you come home with me, Ruth?" I asked eagerly. "I thought I might--possibly, if you'd like to have me, and if you have an empty bed. At least," she added, "I'm not going back to The Homestead." "Oh, you're not!" I replied, vaguely wondering if it were the tailor who was keeping her or the manicurist. "Well, I can lend you a nightgown and you can buy a tooth-brush." "Oh, my trunk is at the station," said Ruth. "I was determined to go somewhere. You see things are not very pleasant for me just now in Hilton. Besides, Edith and I have quarrelled." It wasn't very charitable to rejoice at such an announcement; it wasn't very noble of me, I suppose, to delight that conditions at Hilton were too disagreeable for Ruth to remain there; but remember I had always wanted to shelter my sister--remember I had always been jealous of her loyalty and devotion to Edith, and remember, also, ever since the plans of our house had been put on paper, I had hoped and almost prayed that _some one_ would wish to sleep in the southeast chamber. I reached for a biscuit to help conceal my feelings. "Well," I said steadily, "your room is ready, and you're free to use it or not, as you wish." "It won't be for very long," apologised Ruth, "and perhaps I can help you settle. You mustn't let me be the least bother. I haven't forgotten, you know," she said smiling, "how to wipe dishes." "Didn't there used to be a lot of them in the old days at home," I remarked. "And wasn't I horrid?" she followed up in a sudden burst of generosity. "Wasn't I horrid about helping? I was never very nice to you, I'm afraid, Lucy." "Of course you were!" I scoffed. "Oh, I know I wasn't, but you used to be awfully rabid. It seems to me you've improved a great deal in that respect since you were married. I noticed it when I visited you last spring." She stopped a moment. Then, "I want to tell you," she went on, "that I think you were awfully decent about Breck Sewall. You may not have liked him, but I appreciated your not trying to urge and influence me, the way Will did. If you had mixed yourself up in the affair too much I wouldn't feel like coming to you now." I lowered my eyes as a hypocrite should. "Of course not," I murmured ashamed. Suddenly Ruth shoved her tea-cup to one side, her plate to the other, and folding her hands on the table in front, abruptly launched out into the midst of the details of her broken engagement.