FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82  
83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   >>   >|  
hy; they are certainly unlike enough. But I distrust them in almost every way. I am sorry that you are at school, under Miss Wilbur's influence; not that I dread her influence on you, except in a general way." At this point Grace opened her bright lips to speak; there was an eager sentence glowing on her tongue, but her father had not finished his: "I know all that you can say; that you have nothing to do with her religious, or non-religious, views, and that she is a splendid teacher. I don't doubt it; but I repeat to you that I distrust all of them. I don't know why they have seen fit to come to our Sabbath-school, and to our meeting this evening, unless it be to gain an unhappy influence over some whom they desire to lead astray. I can hardly think so meanly of them as that, either. I do not say that such was their motive, but simply that I do not understand it, and am afraid of it; and I desire you to have just as little to do with any of them as ordinary civility will admit. Hitherto I have thought of Ruth Erskine as simply a leader of fashion, and of Flossy Shipley as the tool of the fashionable world; but I am afraid their dangerous friends are leading them to be more. The tableau affair, to-night, I have investigated to a certain degree, and I consider it one of the worst of its kind. I would not have you associated with it for--well, any consideration that I can imagine; and yet, if I mistake not, I heard them urging you to join them." Again Grace essayed to speak, but the pealing of the door bell interrupted her. "Who is it, Hannah?" Dr. Dennis questioned, as that personage peeped her head in at the door. "It is four young ladies, Dr. Dennis, and they want to see you." Grace arose to depart. "Do you know any of them, Hannah?" the doctor asked. "Well, sir, one of them is the Miss Wilbur who teaches, and I think another is Dr. Mitchell's daughter. I don't know the others." "Show them in here," said Dr. Dennis, promptly. "And, daughter, you will please remain. They have doubtless come to petition me for your assistance in the tableaux, and I have not the least desire to be considered a household tyrant, or to have them suppose that you are my prisoner. I would much rather that you should give them your own opinions on the subject like a brave little woman." "But father," Grace said, and there was a gleam of mischief in her eye, "I haven't any opinions on this subject. The most that I can say i
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82  
83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Dennis

 

desire

 

influence

 
Hannah
 
religious
 

distrust

 
school
 

afraid

 

subject

 

daughter


father
 

simply

 

opinions

 

Wilbur

 

ladies

 
depart
 

mistake

 

urging

 

imagine

 
consideration

personage

 
peeped
 

questioned

 

essayed

 

pealing

 

interrupted

 

doubtless

 
prisoner
 

suppose

 

considered


household

 

tyrant

 

mischief

 

tableaux

 

teaches

 

Mitchell

 

doctor

 

petition

 

assistance

 

remain


promptly

 

civility

 

splendid

 

teacher

 

finished

 

repeat

 
evening
 

meeting

 

Sabbath

 

tongue