Part 14 (2/2)
When the girl brought in the tray with the decanter, Mrs. Abel whispered to her: ”Tell the dressmaker to wait.”
”And then, can you conceive it,” Mrs. Warden continued--”I scarcely know how to tell you”--and she whispered.
”What do you say! In one bed! All! Why, it's revolting!” cried Mrs.
Abel, clasping her hands.
”Yes, an hour ago I; too, could not have believed it possible,” answered Mrs. Warden, ”But when you've been on the spot yourself, and seen with your own eyes--”
”Good heavens, Emily, how could you venture into such a place!”
”I am glad I did, and still more glad of the happy chance that brought the inspector on the scene just at the right time. For if it is enn.o.bling to bring succor to the virtuous poor who live clean and frugal lives in their humble sphere, it would be unpardonable to help such people as these to gratify their vile proclivities.”
”Yes, you're quite right, Emily! What I can't understand is how people in a Christian community--people who have been baptized and confirmed--can sink into such a state! Have they not every day--or, at any rate, every Sunday--the opportunity of listening to powerful and impressive sermons? And Bibles, I am told, are to be had for an incredibly trifling sum.”
”Yes, and only to think,” added Mrs. Warden, ”that not even the heathen, who are without all these blessings--that not even they have any excuse for evil-doing; for they have conscience to guide them.”
”And I'm sure conscience speaks clearly enough to every one who has the will to listen,” Mrs. Abel exclaimed, with emphasis.
”Yes, heaven knows it does,” answered Mrs. Warden, gazing straight before her with a serious smile.
When the friends parted, they exchanged warm embraces.
Mrs. Warden grasped the ivory handle, entered the carriage, and drew her train after her. Then she closed the carriage door--not with a slam, but slowly and carefully.
”To Madame Lab.i.+.c.he's!” she called to the coachman; then, turning to her friend who had accompanied her right down to the garden gate, she said, with a quiet smile: ”Now, thank heaven, I can order my silk dress with a good conscience.”
”Yes, indeed you can!” exclaimed Mrs. Abel, watching her with tears in her eyes. Then she hastened in-doors.
ROMANCE AND REALITY.
”Just you get married as soon as you can,” said Mrs. Olsen.
”Yes, I can't understand why it shouldn't be this very autumn,”
exclaimed the elder Miss Ludvigsen, who was an enthusiast for ideal love.
”Oh, yes!” cried Miss Louisa, who was certain to be one of the bridesmaids.
”But Soren says he can't afford it,” answered the bride elect, somewhat timidly.
”Can't afford it!” repeated Miss Ludvigsen. ”To think of a young girl using such an expression! If you're going to let your new-born love be overgrown with prosaic calculations, what will be left of the ideal halo which love alone can cast over life? That a man should be alive to these considerations I can more or less understand--it's in a way his duty; but for a sensitive, womanly heart, in the heyday of sentiment!--No, no, Marie; for heaven's sake, don't let these sordid money-questions darken your happiness.”
”Oh, no!” cried Miss Louisa.
”And, besides,” Mrs. Olsen chimed in, ”your _fiance_ is by no means so badly off. My husband and I began life on much less.--I know you'll say that times were different then. Good heavens, we all know that! What I can't understand is that you don't get tired of telling us so. Don't you think that we old people, who have gone through the transition period, have the best means of comparing the requirements of to-day with those of our youth? You can surely understand that with my experience of house-keeping, I'm not likely to disregard the altered conditions of life; and yet I a.s.sure you that the salary your intended receives from my husband, with what he can easily earn by extra work, is quite sufficient to set up house upon.”
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