During the separation no letters passed between them. When the
neighbors asked Jonathan for news of his brother, he always
replied, "He is well," and avoided further speech with such
evidence of pain that they spared him. An hour before the month
drew to an end, he walked forth alone, taking the road to the
nearest railway station. A stranger who passed him at the entrance
of a thick wood, three miles from home, was thunderstruck on
meeting the same person shortly after, entering the wood from the
other side; but the farmers in the near fields saw two figures
issuing from the shade, hand in hand.
Each knew the other's month, before they slept, and the last thing
Jonathan said, with his head on David's shoulder, was, "You must
know our neighbors, the Bradleys, and especially Ruth." In the
morning, as they dressed, taking each other's garments at random,
as of old, Jonathan again said, "I have never seen a girl that I
like so well as Ruth Bradley. Do you remember what father said
about loving and marrying? It comes into my mind whenever I see
Ruth; but she has no sister.
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