He has great confidence in his success, and I hope for his sake he won't be disappointed." Philip could not but feel that he was treated very much like one of the Bolton-family--by all except Ruth.

His mother, when he went home after his recovery from his accident, had affected to be very jealous of Mrs.
Bolton, about whom and Ruth she asked a thousand questions -- an affectation of jealousy which no doubt concealed a real heartache, which comes to every mother when her son goes out into the world and forms new ties.

And to Mrs.Sterling; a widow, living on a small income in a remote Massachusetts village, Philadelphia was a city of many splendors.

All its inhabitants seemed highly favored, dwelling in ease and surrounded by superior advantages.

Some of her neighbors had relations living in Philadelphia, and it seemed to them somehow a guarantee of respectability to have relations in Philadelphia.
Mrs.Sterling was not sorry to have Philip make his way among such well-to-do people, and she was sure that no good fortune could be too good for his deserts.
"So, sir," said Ruth, when Philip came from New York, "you have been assisting in a pretty tragedy.