Eva looked at her sister in wonder. There she lay, blushing like a wild rose, trembling like its leaves, and smiling in spite of the fears that had so oppressed her—a creature so delicate and frail, that helplessness seemed her portion forever. Could it be possible, that pure genius in a creature like that, might accomplish more than all her strength of life and power of action? Was genius so far above everything else in this world? These thoughts broke forth in a burst of tender enthusiasm.
“Oh, Ruthy! Ruthy! Is it so? Are you to be the bread-winner, and I the drone? I cannot believe it! I cannot believe it!”
“Nor I,” said Ruthy. “It seems like a miracle; but, oh, I will work so hard! Ah, Mr. Ross, you opened a new life to me, when you pronounced my poor sketches worthy of notice.”
“The life of genius is always new, for its very essence is creation,” answered Ross, with subdued enthusiasm.
“But, to chain genius down to the earning of money, seems so unsuited to its greatness,” said Eva.
“Unsuited to its greatness!” exclaimed Ross. “Is it a degradation to be useful, to give bread for thought—for mental power to transmute itself into material blessings? Is the man or woman of genius higher or prouder than the God who made him? Is the wheat, which bends in green and ripening waves to the wind, and grows golden under the sunshine, less beautiful because hungry millions feed on it? Are the lilies of the field more splendid than the fruit with which our orchards are laden? Why, Eva, every grand or lovely thing that God has created has its uses for mankind. While men starve and suffer, no gift that comes from Him can remain idle without sin. The great reward of genius is its power to confer blessings; first, by the effort itself, giving new objects of thought or beauty to the world, and again by the material rewards, which cannot be used without adding to the comfort and happiness of mankind.”
Ross spoke with an outburst of feeling, which Eva’s little speech, natural to a romantic girl, need hardly have called forth. She blushed crimson, feeling his ardent words as a rebuke, while Ruth seemed to kindle up with living fire. Her eyes flashed like stars, and a handful of carnations seemed to have been dashed against her cheek, leaving a delicate stain there. She rose to her elbow, radiant.
“Oh, Eva!” she said. “If you knew how happy it has made me to win a little money, when you all need it so much, you would never talk as if the earning it could be considered unsuitable.”
“You are right,” answered Eva, almost crying. “It was a thoughtless speech.”
“Because you really had never considered the subject,” answered Ross, heartily ashamed of his own enthusiasm. “But all this brings us no nearer to the question in hand.”