"Ah, my dear! can't you understand? When she first heard of Mr. Rowan—"
"Call him Luke, mamma."
"When she first heard of him she was taught to believe that he was giddy, and that he didn't mean anything."
"Why should she think evil of people? Who taught her?"
"Miss Pucker, and Mr. Prong, and that set."
"Yes; and they are the people who talk most of Christian charity!"
"But, my dear, they don't mean to be uncharitable. They try to do good. If Dorothea really thought that this young man was a dangerous acquaintance what could she do but say so? And you can't expect her to turn round all in a minute. Think how she has been troubled herself about this affair of Mr. Prong's."
"But that's no reason she should say that Luke is dangerous. Dangerous! What makes me so angry is that she should think everybody is a fool except herself. Why should anybody be more dangerous to me than to anybody else?"
"Well, my dear, I think that perhaps she is not so wrong there. Of course everything is all right with you now, and I'm sure I'm the happiest woman in the world to feel that it is so. I don't know how to be thankful enough when I think how things have turned out;—but when I first heard of him I thought he was dangerous too."
"But you don't think he is dangerous now, mamma?"