With a sudden consciousness that unwittingly she had touched on some painful chord, Jemima rushed into another subject, and was eagerly seconded by Miss Benson.

The circumstance seemed to die away, and leave no trace; but in after-years it rose, vivid and significant, before Jemima's memory.

At present it was enough for her, if Mrs Denbigh would let her serve her in every possible way.

Her admiration for beauty was keen, and little indulged at home; and Ruth was very beautiful in her quiet mournfulness; her mean and homely dress left herself only the more open to admiration, for she gave it a charm by her unconscious wearing of it that made it seem like the drapery of an old Greek statue--subordinate to the figure it covered, yet imbued by it with an unspeakable grace.

Then the pretended circumstances of her life were such as to catch the imagination of a young romantic girl.
Altogether, Jemima could have kissed her hand and professed herself Ruth's slave.