"Well, Mrs. Montague, if you must know." And Harry stopped to light a

cigar, and then puffed on in silence. The little quarrel didn't last

over night, for Harry never appeared to cherish any ill-will half a

second, and Philip was too sensible to continue a row about nothing; and

he had invited Harry to come with him.

The young gentlemen stayed in Fallkill a week, and were every day at the

Montagues, and took part in the winter gaieties of the village. There

were parties here and there to which the friends of Ruth and the

Montagues were of course invited, and Harry in the generosity of his

nature, gave in return a little supper at the hotel, very simple indeed,

with dancing in the hall, and some refreshments passed round. And Philip

found the whole thing in the bill when he came to pay it.

Before the week was over Philip thought he had a new light on the

character of Ruth. Her absorption in the small gaieties of the society

there surprised him. He had few opportunities for serious conversation

with her. There was always some butterfly or another flitting about,

and when Philip showed by his manner that he was not pleased, Ruth

laughed merrily enough and rallied him on his soberness--she declared he

was getting to be grim and unsocial. He talked indeed more with Alice

than with Ruth, and scarcely concealed from her the trouble that was in

his mind. It needed, in fact, no word from him, for she saw clearly

enough what was going forward, and knew her sex well enough to know

there

was no remedy for it but time.

240

The Gilded Age