After a few minutes, she said: 'And when did you come to the conclusion that you had a soul above the frivolities of this world?'
'Does that conclusion seem very absurd to you, Miss Rayner?'
She looked at me with an odd kind of smile. 'I believe you could be a little spitfire if you liked,' she said. 'You must remember I have lived a little longer in the world than you have. And I have met with young girls of something the same stamp as yourself, who ran away from home duties to visit in the slums, and because they despise men of the world, lavish all their love and adoration on a wishy-washy curate, who very often encourages them, and then gives them the slip in the end, sending them back to their homes sadder and wiser women. My sister has cause for thankfulness that there is no curate in her parish.'
'Miss Rayner, I don't think I quite deserve that,' I said.
She laughed. 'I am very rude and plain-spoken. You must put up with that if you come to stay with me. I did promise not to catechise you the first evening, didn't I? But the temptation proves too strong. I have had a lot of disagreeable business to-day, and now I feel I want relaxation and amusement.'
'Why have you given up going out into society?' I asked.
'Ah! Now you are turning the tables on me. But I have lived my life—you have yours yet to come. Can you give me any clear reason why you should be different to the Forsyths? Is it a matter of principle? If so, what is the principle?'
'"Be not conformed to this world,"' I said, in a low voice, but a steady one; '"Come out from among them, and be ye separate." Those are two commands I am trying to obey, Miss Rayner.'
'Why?' was the curt inquiry.
'Because I belong to Christ, and I want to carry out His wishes.'