e they made for? And of all pretty things--O, those
carpets and rugs! Lois, I never saw or dreamed of anything so
magnificent. I _should_ like to be rich, for once!"

"To buy a Persian carpet?"

"Yes. That and other things. Why not?"

"Madge, don't you know this was what grandmother was afraid of, when we
were learning to know Mr. Dillwyn?"

"What?" said Madge defiantly.

"That we would be bewitched--or dazzled--and lose sight of better
things; I think 'bewitched' is the word; all these beautiful things and
this luxurious comfort--it is bewitching; and so are the fine manners
and the cultivation and the delightful talk. I confess it. I feel it as
much as you do; but this is just what dear grandmother wanted to
protect us from."

"_What_ did she want to protect us from?" repeated Madge vehemently.
"Not Persian carpets, nor luxury; we are not likely to be tempted by
either of them in Shampuashuh."

"We might _here_."

"Be tempted? To what? I shall hardly be likely to go and buy a
fifteen-hundred-dollar carpet. And it was _cheap_ at that, Lois! I can
live without it, besides. I haven't got so far that I can't stand on
the floor, without any carpet at all, if I must. You needn't think it."

"I do not think it. Only, do not be tempted to fancy, darling, that
there is any way open to you to get such things; that is all."

"Any way open to me? You mean, I might marry a rich man some day?"

"You might think you might."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because, dear Madge, you will not be asked. I told you why. And if you
were,--Madge, you would not, you _could_ not, marry a man that was not
a Christian? Grandmother made me promise I never would."

"She did not make me promise it. Lois, don't be ridiculous. I don't
want to marry anybody at present; but I like Persian carpets, and
nothing will make me say I don't. And I like silver and gold; and
servants, and silk dresses, and ice-cream, and pictures, and big
houses, and big mirrors, and all the rest of it."

"You can find it all in the eighteenth chapter of Revelation, in the
description of the city Babylon; which means the world."

"I thought Babylon was Rome."

"Read for yourself."

I think Madge did not read it for herself, however; and the days went
on after the accustomed fashion, till the one arrived which was fixed
for Mrs. Chauncey Burrage's second musical party. The three ladies were
all invited. Mrs. Wishart supposed they were all going; but when the
day c