No one could blame her if she threw her
balance at the bank into the sea. She would never be called to
account; but since she asked him whether the estate was bound to
assist in pulling the church to pieces, and setting up a fresh curate
to bring in more absurdities, he could only say what he thought,"
etc.
These thoughts of his were of course most offensive to Armine, who
set all down to sordid Puritan prejudice, could not think how his
mother could listen, and, when Babie stood up for her mother, went
off to blend his lamentations with those of Miss Parsons, whose
resignation struck him as heroic. "Never mind, Armine, it will all
come in time. Perhaps we are not fit for it yet. We cannot expect
the world's justice to understand the outpouring of the saints'
liberality."
Armine repeated this interesting aphorism to Barbara, and was much
disappointed that the shrewd little woman did not understand it, or
only so far as to say, "But I did not know that it was saintly to be
liberal with other people's money."
He said Babie had a prejudice against Miss Parsons; and he was so far
right that the Infanta did not like her, thought her a humbug, and
sorely felt that for the first time something had come between
herself and Armine.
Allen was another trouble.
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