Ruth climbed the hill, interested, happy, yet deeply disturbed. Miss

Ainslie's beautiful, changing face seemed to follow her, and the

exquisite scent of the lavender, which had filled the rooms, clung to

her senses like a benediction.

Hepsey was right, and unquestionably Miss Ainslie had something to do

with the light; but no deep meaning lay behind it--so much was certain.

She had lived alone so long that she had grown to have a great fear of

shipwreck, possibly on account of her friend, the "seafaring gentleman,"

and had asked Miss Hathaway to put the light in the window--that was

all.

Ruth's reason was fully satisfied, but something else was not. "I'm not

going to think about it any more," she said to herself, resolutely, and

thought she meant it.

She ate her dinner with the zest of hunger, while Hepsey noiselessly

served her. "I have been to Miss Ainslie's, Hepsey," she said at length,

not wishing to appear unsociable.

The maid's clouded visage cleared for an instant. "Did you find out

about the lamp?" she inquired, eagerly.

"No, I didn't, Hepsey; but I'll tell you what I think. Miss Ainslie has

read a great deal and has lived alone so much that she has become very

much afraid of shipwreck. You know all of us have some one fear. For

instance, I am terribly afraid of green worms, though a green worm has

never harmed me. I think she asked Miss Hathaway to put the lamp in the

window, and possibly told her of something she had read which made her

feel that she should have done it before."

Hepsey's face took on its old, impenetrable calm.

"Don't you think so?" asked Miss Thorne, after a long pause.

"Yes'm."

"It's all very reasonable, isn't it?"

"Yes'm."

In spite of the seeming assent, she knew that Hepsey was not convinced;

and afterward, when she came into the room with the attic lamp and a box

of matches, the mystery returned to trouble Ruth again.

"If I don't take up tatting," she thought, as she went upstairs, "or

find something else to do, I'll be a meddling old maid inside of six

months."




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