She knew now, as well as words could have told her, that not only had the old feeling of love passed away from Jemima, but that it had gone unregretted, and no attempt had been made to recall it.

Love was very precious to Ruth now, as of old time.

It was one of the faults of her nature to be ready to make any sacrifices for those who loved her, and to value affection almost above its price.

She had yet to learn the lesson, that it is more blessed to love than to be beloved; and lonely as the impressible years of her youth had been--without parents, without brother or sister--it was, perhaps, no wonder that she clung tenaciously to every symptom of regard, and could not relinquish the love of any one without a pang.
The doctor who was called in to Elizabeth prescribed sea-air as the best means of recruiting her strength.

Mr Bradshaw, who liked to spend money ostentatiously, went down straight to Abermouth, and engaged a house for the remainder of the autumn; for, as he told the medical man, money was no object to him in comparison with his children's health; and the doctor cared too little about the mode in which his remedy was administered, to tell Mr Bradshaw that lodgings would have done as well, or better, than the complete house he had seen fit to take.