A Colonial Wooing
made his way plain and provided for Ruth! But Matthew was troubled lest his motive in withholding the letter should yet be discovered. "It is my judgment that it is best for her," he continually assured himself, and all the while his "inward voice" that he had been known to preach about told him he was not to that extent "his brother's keeper." It was Ruth who was left to judge. To suit his own distorted views of duty he dared defy law and justice and decide for her. There was a passage in the letter he dared not let her read. Had he done so, she would have reached a different conclusion.
At times as he rode along, meeting no human being and so communing continually with himself, his fears almost overcame him, and he would check the horse's progress; but then the thought would come, to return would be to make known the truth, and the meeting would stand aghast at the grievous sin of one of their leaders. "It must be that my judgment is correct," he would mutter, and then, bolstered by the sound of words he uttered and vainly tried to believe,
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