The square, stout, bustling figure, neat and clean in every respect, but dressed in the peculiar, old-fashioned costume of the county, namely, a dark-striped linsey-woolsey petticoat, made very short, displaying sturdy legs in woollen stockings beneath; a loose kind of jacket called there a "bedgown," made of pink print; a snow-white apron and cap, both of linen, and the latter made in the shape of a "mutch;"-- these articles completed Sally's costume, and were painted on Ruth's memory.

Whilst Sally was busied in preparing tea, Miss Benson took off Ruth's things; and the latter instinctively felt that Sally, in the midst of her movements, was watching their proceedings.
Occasionally she also put in a word in the conversation, and these little sentences were uttered quite in the tone of an equal, if not of a superior.

She had dropped the more formal "you," with which at first she had addressed Miss Benson, and thou'd her quietly and habitually.
All these particulars sank unconsciously into Ruth's mind; but they did not rise to the surface, and become perceptible, for a length of time.

She was weary, and much depressed.

Even the very kindness that ministered to her was overpowering.