Part 13 (1/2)

This was quite beyond Prudence's depth. She knew little of Christian Science save that it was a widely accepted creed of recent origin. So she brought the twins back to Miss Allen again. ”But, twins, do you think it was kind, and Christian, and--and like parsonage girls, to accept all this against Miss Allen without giving her a chance to defend herself?”

”As I told you, Prue, we have watched her very close since then. She has never come right out in the open,--she wouldn't dare,--but she has given herself away several times. Nothing can get by us when we're on the watch, you know!”

Prudence knew. ”What did Miss Allen say?”

The twins thought seriously for a while.

”Oh, yes, Lark,” suggested Carol finally, ”don't you remember she said the Bible was an allegory?”

”What?”

”Yes, she did. She was explaining to the English cla.s.s what was meant by allegory, and she said the purpose of using allegory was to teach an important truth in a homely impressive way that could be remembered.

She mentioned several prominent allegories, and said the Bible was one.

And you know yourself Prue, that the Bible is Gospel truth, and--I mean, it is so! I mean----”

”What she means,” said Lark helpfully, ”is that the Bible is not just a pretty way of teaching people to be good, but it's solid fact clear through.”

”That's very well expressed, Lark,”--Prudence herself could not have expressed it half so well! ”But how do you twins understand all these things so thoroughly?”

”Oh, you know Mrs. Sears is our Sunday-school teacher, and she's always hot on the trail of the higher critics and heretics. She explained all about the--the nefarious system to us one Sunday. She says the higher critics try to explain away the Bible by calling it allegory. So we were ready for Miss Allen there. And whenever anything came up at school, we would ask Mrs. Sears about it on Sunday,--without mentioning names of course. She's very much gratified that we are so much interested in such things. She thinks we're sure to be deaconesses, at the very least. But Carol said she wouldn't be a deaconess,--she was going to be a Red Cross nurse and go to war. That stumped Mrs. Sears for a while, and then she said we could be Red Cross Deaconess nurses.”

”I won't,” said Carol, ”because the deaconess uniforms aren't as stylish as the Red Cross nurses'. I think I'll look pretty fine in a white uniform with a stiff little cap and a red cross on my arm. Red crosses make a very pretty decoration, don't you think they do, Lark?”

”What else did Miss Allen say at school?” Prudence demanded, leading the twins back to the subject.

”Well, one day she said,--you know she gives uplifting little moral talks quite often, Prue. Sometimes she tells us stories with inspiring points. She's really a moral person, I believe.”

”And I'm honestly sorry she's a heretic,” said Carol, ”for I do want to be friendly enough with her to ask if she uses anything on her complexion to keep it so rose-leafy. If she does, I'll have some of it, if it takes all my next year's clothes!”

Lark laughed. ”A rose-leaf complexion will be a poor subst.i.tute for----”

”Oh, for goodness' sake, twins, come back to Miss Allen. I am going right up to her house this minute, to ask her about it, and explain----”

”She's the one to do the explaining, seems to me,” said Carol belligerently. ”We've got to stick up for the Bible, Prue,--it's our business.”

”And I don't think you should tell her,--it may hurt her feelings,”

urged Lark.

”Have heretics feelings?” queried Carol. ”I suppose it's a feeling of----”

”Carol! Will you quit talking for a minute! This is a serious matter.

If she believes all that nonsense, she's no proper teacher and--and she'll have to be put out of the high school. And if she doesn't believe it, she's a martyr! I'm going to find out about it at once.

Do you want to come with me?”

”I should say not,” said the twins promptly.

”I think you're very foolish to go at all,” added Lark.

”I wouldn't go for a dollar,” declared Carol. ”It'd be very interesting to see how a heretic feels, but I don't care to know how ordinary Christians feel when they fall into their hands. I'm not aching to see Miss Allen to-night.”

So Prudence set forth, conscientiously, in the darkness. A brave and heroic thing for Prudence to do, for she was a cowardly creature at heart.