She had heard from Mr. Bills that Eloise “was handsome as blazes,” but she was not prepared for the face which looked up at her as she entered the room.  Something in the eyes appealed to her as it had to Mr. Bills, and any prejudice she might have had melted away at once, and she began talking to Eloise as familiarly as if she had known her all her life.  At first Eloise drew back from the powerfully built woman, who stood up so tall before her, and whose voice was so strong and masculine, and whose eyes travelled over her so rapidly, taking in every detail of her dress and every feature of her face.  Mrs. Biggs’s disfiguring cotton gown had been discarded for a loose white jacket, which, with its knots of pink ribbon, was very becoming, and Ruby found herself studying it closely, and wondering if she could make one like it, and how she would look in it.  Then she noticed the hands, so small and so white, and felt an irresistible desire to take one of them in her broad palm.

“I do believe I could hold three like them in one of mine,” she thought, and sitting down by Eloise’s side, she laid her hand on the one resting on the arm of the chair.

There was something so friendly and warm and so sympathetic in the touch that Eloise wanted to cry.  With a great effort she kept her tears back, but could not prevent one or two from standing on her long lashes, and making her eyes very bright as she answered Ruby’s rapid questions with regard to the accident.

“And I hear Mr. Howard Crompton brought you here himself.  That was something of an honor, as he seldom goes out of his way for any one,” she said, with a keen look of curiosity in her eyes.

“I never thought of the honor,” Eloise replied.  “I could think of nothing but the pain, which was terrible, and now everything is so dreary and so different from what I hoped.  Do you think it will be long before I can walk?”

“No; oh no,” Ruby answered cheerily.  “Let me see your foot.  It is swollen badly,” she said, as she replaced the old shawl Mrs. Biggs had thrown across it.  “What have you on it?  Wormwood and vinegar, I know by the odor.  You should have a rubber band, and nothing else.  It is cleaner and saves trouble.  That’s what I used, and was well in no time.”

“Have you had a sprained ankle, too?” Eloise asked, and Ruby Ann replied, “Certainly.  Nearly every one has at some time in his life.  It is as common as the measles.”

“I believe it,” Eloise rejoined with a laugh.  “So many have called to see me, and almost every one had had a sprain,—­some as many as three; and each one proposed a different remedy.”

“Naturally; but you try the rubber band.  I’ll bring you one, and massage your ankle, and have you well very soon.”