Elizabeth took her to a store that Ruth had a bad feeling about before they ever entered the shop and her suspicion was confirmed when they went inside. The leather shoes looked very supple and very expensive. The whole store had the ambiance of the wealthy.
Ruth felt no shame as she informed her, "I can't afford shoes that cost more than 50 cents."
"I'll make up the difference," Elizabeth said with a flick of the wrist.
Ruth figured the woman had had enough trouble for one day, so she compliantly sat down on one of the plush, clawed chairs as they waited for the shopkeeper to get to them. He was busy with another lady at the moment.
She undid the lace on her right shoe herself. Elizabeth sent a disapproving glance, her favorite expression it seemed, but she wasn't going to sit there while a man, who wasn't her husband, did a task that she was perfectly capable of herself. That was more unseemly to her way of thinking than doing work in the view of others. How anyone kept up with all these unspoken rules of society, Ruth hadn't a clue.
"What are you looking for today, ma'am?" the shopkeeper asked Ruth when he came over to them.
"Just some good, sensible shoes that will hold up well under a lot of travel," Ruth answered.
"But nice-looking too," Elizabeth added.
The man only had to take a quick look at her stocking clad foot before he came back with some black-leather boots. Fortunately, her feet were neither unusually large or unusually small, so there was a readymade pair in her size.
The shoes were 4.00. For that price, they should hold up under travel, but Elizabeth didn't even blink as she handed over the 3.50 part of it.
"I feel as if everyone is looking at me, talking about me," Elizabeth muttered once they were back out on the street among the throng of people.
Ruth didn't know if it was comment meant for herself or if she was talking to her, but she answered anyway, "It's bound to feel that way, but it ain't true and even if it were, no sense in worrying about it."
"What no verse for my situation?" she said with sarcasm.
"James is a good book to read for how to handle wagging tongues, but I'll give you a verse out of it if that's what you want." She had flipped in her Bible to said book and read, " 'Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.'"
"And that's supposed to make me feel better? It doesn't make experiencing it any easier."
"It's themselves they hurt most by their words. The sin is not just against you but His Word and so against God Himself and He will take care of it. Your job is to love and pray for them looking down on you and for the instigator of this, to be a simple doer of the law and He will comfort you in your trial."
"Sound advice, I suppose," she said, climbing into the waiting carriage.
"Not my advice. Scripture," Ruth said, climbing in after her.
"Maybe I will give James a look," Elizabeth said thoughtfully. "After all, where else do I have to turn right now?"
"No better place you can turn to," Ruth agreed.
The hospital wasn't far from the shop and they were there in just a few minutes.
Ruth left the new shoes boxed up in the carriage as there was no point in soiling her new shoes, not to mention she would have to break them in. Her feet would be blistered if she wore the new ones for 8 hours while she walked all over the place.
The nurse, whose place she was taking, worked in the influenza ward, so she found her self directly among the test subjects. Josef hadn't told her of the results of their experiment so far. He said it might affect the way she prayed.
A girl who looked to be no older than 7 moaned with fever. She was almost birdlike with little more than skin on her bones. Was she in the group that was being prayed for or the group that wasn't? That question stopped Sister Ruth in her tracks.
The nun noticed where attention was and made the sign of the cross. "She's in the protection of the Holy Mother now. We've done everything we can do."
"Her family? Where are they?"
"Whether she lives or dies, they must keep working. They stop by for a few minutes after work when they can, but they have many more mouths to feed and care for at home. If you don't mind, I'm about to fall down from exhaustion."
"Oh, of course. Go, I can take care of things here."
The nun gave her a thankful, tired smile and then went to turn in. There was probably a cot hidden somewhere in the hospital for such cases because she didn't look as if she could walk back to wherever the convent was located.
Ruth knew she had other tasks to be at, Mother Superior had given her a list, but this small girl tugged at her heartstrings. She sat down by her bedside and wiped her fevered brow with a cool, wet cloth sitting in the bowl that on the table by the bedside. She was so hot to the touch. If her temperature didn't come down soon, she would be gone. The fever would take her. In that moment, Ruth was convicted.
She was using God, using prayer, in the wrong manner as if He were a machine and a person could spit out a prayer and get immediate results just the way they put it in. They might as well have been using praying parrots in this study, the results would be just the same. This experiment of theirs wasn't having a right heart for prayer, the right attitude, as their motive wasn't to see healings as much as it was to prove something to the other doctors.
She just didn't see how God could bless it. They'd thought the motive right, but withholding prayer from those who needed it wasn't right. She should be praying for all the patients, their families, their caregivers; they all needed to lifted up in prayer. Prayer wasn't about having God conform to her will; it was about conforming to God's will.
"Forgive me, Father. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me." She said, praying the prayer of David.
She started by praying for the little girl and she praised God when she felt the child's skin cool under her fingers.
Ruth filled a cup of water and went around making sure those who were conscience enough took some sips. It was important to make sure they stayed hydrated. As she gave them water, she also gave them prayers. Not all received such immediate healing as the girl had, but she prayed just the same.