'Only the sour Gage will ferment a
little.'
'Oh, Jane! I did not expect that you would treat this matter so
lightly.'
'But tell me, what harm has it done?' asked she.
'Do you consider it nothing that the poor child should remain
unbaptized, that discord should be brought into the parish, that
anger should be on the conscience of your neighbour, that he should
be driven from the church?'
'Is it as bad as that?' said Jane.
'We do not yet see the full extent of the mischief our idle words may
have done,' said Mr. Devereux.
'But it is their own fault, if they will do wrong,' said Jane; 'they
ought not to be in a rage, we said nothing but the truth.'
'I wish I was clear of the sin,' said her cousin.
'And after all,' said Jane, 'I cannot see that I was much to blame; I
only talked to Mrs. Appleton, as I have done scores of times, and no
one minded it. You only laughed at me on Saturday, and papa and
Eleanor never scolded me.'
'You cannot say that no one has ever tried to check you,' said the
Rector.
'And how was I to know that that mischief-maker would repeat it?'
said Jane.
'I do not mean to say,' said Mr. Devereux, 'that you actually
committed a greater sin than you may often have done, by talking in a
way which you knew would displease your father.
Pages:
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69