Ruth Herrick's Assignment
this place," she said suddenly, and with a complete change of tone. There was almost an apology in her voice and manner. "But I am quite sane," she added, "and it is a pleasure to me to have you here, and to talk to you. I had not realized, until you came, how much I needed something to break in upon this hideous routine, and change the current of my thoughts. For one year my mind has fed upon itself. I have spoken at the rarest intervals, and then only to the warden and his wife. Now I suddenly find myself struggling with a desire to become garrulous, to pour out my soul to you, as it were. I could almost tell you the story of my life. All this would be an admirable illustration of the limitations of a woman's capacity for silence,—but it is n't amusing. It shows me that I am not quite myself; I am nervous and not wholly under my own control."
"I wish you would talk to me," said the reporter, earnestly. "Use me as a safety-valve. Tell me the story of your life, as you say. It would interest me, and might help you. Or try to imagine that I am an old
17
