Doubtless if he heard of her father's ruin, generosity would make him strive to do all that he could for her in her changed circumstances.

It would be like him then to step forward and avow himself ready to marry her.

But it was out of the question for her to consent.

She wished the matter settled and done with; she wished the irrevocable words spoken.
And yet when at dusk one evening Reuben suddenly stood before her, she felt her heart beating to suffocation, and wished that she had any reasonable excuse for fleeing from him.
His visits to the house were not frequent; he was too busy to make them so.

But from time to time he brought orphaned children to the home of shelter, or took away from it some of those for whom other homes had been found with their kinsfolk in other places.