It was after this visit that Mrs.Alwynn became more exacting.

She had borne with half attention and a lack of interest in crewel-work while Ruth was still "fretting," as she termed it.

But when a person lays aside crape, and goes into half-mourning, the time had come when she may--nay, when she ought to be "chatty." This time had come with Ruth, but she was not "chatty." Like Mrs.Dombey, she did not make an effort, and, as the months passed on, Mrs.Alwynn began to shake her head, and to fear that "there was some officer or something on her mind." Mrs.Alwynn always called soldiers officers, and doctors physicians.
Ruth, on her side, was vaguely aware that she did not give satisfaction.
The small-talk, the perpetual demand on her attention, the constant interruptions, seemed to benumb what faculties she had.

Her mind became like a machine out of work--rusty, creaking, difficult to set going.

If she had half an hour of leisure she could not fix her attention to anything.