The tears fell quickly down Ruth’s cheeks, but she did not speak.  She could not put into words the sense she was just beginning to entertain of the estimation in which she was henceforward to be held.  She thought he would be as much grieved as she was at what had taken place that morning; she fancied she should sink in his opinion if she told him how others regarded her; besides, it seemed ungenerous to dilate upon the suffering of which he was the cause.

“I will not,” thought she, “embitter his life; I will try and be cheerful.  I must not think of myself so much.  If I can but make him happy, what need I care for chance speeches?”

Accordingly, she made every effort possible to be as light-hearted as he was; but, somehow, the moment she relaxed, thoughts would intrude, and wonders would force themselves upon her mind:  so that altogether she was not the gay and bewitching companion Mr. Bellingham had previously found her.

They sauntered out for a walk.  The path they chose led to a wood on the side of a hill, and they entered, glad of the shade of the trees.  At first it appeared like any common grove, but they soon came to a deep descent, on the summit of which they stood, looking down on the tree-tops, which were softly waving far beneath their feet.  There was a path leading sharp down, and they followed it; the ledge of rock made it almost like going down steps, and their walk grew into a bounding, and their bounding into a run, before they reached the lowest plane.  A green gloom reigned there; it was the still hour of noon; the little birds were quiet in some leafy shade.  They went on a few yards, and then they came to a circular pool overshadowed by the trees, whose highest boughs had been beneath their feet a few minutes before.  The pond was hardly below the surface of the ground, and there was nothing like a bank on any side.  A heron was standing there motionless, but when he saw them he flapped his wings and slowly rose; and soared above the green heights of the wood up into the very sky itself, for at that depth the trees appeared to touch the round white clouds which brooded over the earth.  The speedwell grew in the shallowest water of the pool, and all around its margin, but the flowers were hardly seen at first, so deep was the green shadow cast by the trees.  In the very middle of the pond the sky was mirrored clear and dark, a blue which looked as if a black void lay behind.

“Oh, there are water-lilies!” said Ruth, her eye catching on the farther side.  “I must go and get some.”

“No; I will get them for you.  The ground is spongy all round there.  Sit still, Ruth; this heap of grass will make a capital seat.”

He went round, and she waited quietly for his return.  When he came back he took off her bonnet, without speaking, and began to place his flowers in her hair.  She was quite still while he arranged her coronet, looking up in his face with loving eyes, with a peaceful composure.  She knew that he was pleased from his manner, which had the joyousness of a child playing with a new toy, and she did not think twice of his occupation.  It was pleasant to forget everything except his pleasure.  When he had decked her out, he said—­