She wondered if he would stop in the parlour as a visitor or come
to her room as was his custom, and a sharp pain cut her with the
thought of their changed relationship.
He stopped in the hall, asked the maid to send the children down
at once, and stepped into the parlour.
He felt a strange embarrassment in his own home. This house he had
bought for Ruth soon after their arrival in New York. It had just
been built in the wide-open space of the cliffs on Washington Heights.
The Pilgrim Church's members were long since scattered over every
quarter of the city, and, by arranging his study in the church,
he was able to have his home so far removed from the noise of the
downtown district. He had thus fulfilled Ruth's passionate desire
for a home of her own within their moderate means. He recalled
now with tender melancholy how happy they had been decorating this
little nest, and how far from his wildest dream had been such an
ending of it all.
But he had come with important news, and he hoped her pain would
be softened by its announcement.
The children entered with shouts of delight. First one would hug
him, and then the other, and then both would try at the same time.
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