Little "e;Why-because"e;

"e;AUNTIE, what does 'ruthless' mean?"e;"e;Why do you wish to know, Hecla?"e;"e;I saw it in a book."e;"e;You shall show me the passage by-and-by. Just now you have to work."e;Hecla was hemming a small pocket-handkerchief, with red edges. She liked doing this, because it was for "e;Chris,"e; but she did not love work for its own sake. She liked nothing which meant sitting still. Hers was a rather curious name. She had been born in Iceland, under the shadow, so to speak, of Mount Hecla. That was why she was so called. She sat at a small table in the middle of the room, with her back to the window, and Miss Storey, a slender, small, middle-aged lady, was near the fire. At Miss Storey's feet lay a fine black Persian cat, fast asleep; and in the window hung a gilt cage, the canary within ever hopping from perch to perch, except when it stopped to feed or to sing.