(There are other reasons for that, for her marriage is not a happy one.)
"—nor do you regard the loving warnings of your father. You are like a crevasse above the snow-line, in which the kiss of the spring sun cannot melt the snow, nor turn a single atom of ice into a drop of water——"
(The writer must have been reading romances. As a matter of fact John was generally yielding towards his school-fellows. But towards his domestic enemies he had become cold. That was their fault.)
"What can your friends think of your new religion, when it produces such evil fruit? They will curse it, and your views give them the right to do so——"
(Not the right, but the occasion.)
"They will hate the mean scoundrel who has instilled the hellish poison of his teaching into your innocent heart——"
(There we have it! The mean scoundrel!)
"Show now by your actions that you have grasped the truth better than heretofore. Try to be forbearing——"
(That's the step-mother!)
"Pass over the defects and failings of your fellow-men with love and gentleness——"