The ledger in the fire

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

Smoke was already folding itself across the mill yard when Ruth reached the gate. Men carried buckets from the pump, spilling half the water before they reached the flames. The fire had begun in the warehouse and was creeping towards the counting-house, where Ruth spent her days copying columns of figures. Through its window, she could see the wages ledger lying open on the master’s desk.

Mr Barlow caught her arm as she moved towards the side door. “Let the books burn,” he said. “No account is worth a life.” Behind him, one of the mill workers called the ledger their only proof of the hours they had worked. Ruth looked at the watching crowd. She remembered how often the foreman had called her “the little copyist”, as if a small hand must belong to a small mind. Then she pulled free of Mr Barlow and ran inside.

The passage was darker than she expected. Heat pressed against her face, and something heavy fell in the warehouse with a sound like a carriage overturning. In the office, Ruth found the ledger beside a locked cash box. For an instant, she imagined carrying out both and hearing the yard applaud her twice. Smoke caught in her throat. She took only the book, wrapped it in her shawl and felt her way back along the wall.

She had scarcely crossed the yard when part of the counting-house roof dropped into the passage she had used. The workers cheered, but Mr Barlow did not. He held the wet ledger against his coat and stared at Ruth as though anger were the only shape his fear could take. Ruth was proud that she had saved the records and ashamed that the cheering pleased her. She could not decide whether the falling roof proved that she had returned just in time or that she should never have entered at all.

“The writer presents Ruth’s decision to enter the burning office as admirable rather than foolish.”

Evaluate how successfully the writer presents this idea. Support your judgement with detailed references to the passage.