Hemstead did not understand this remark, but the others did, and significant glances were exchanged. He turned inquiringly to Lottie, feeling that in a certain sense he had an ally in her, but she seemed looking away abstractedly as if she had not heeded the remark. She was too quick to be caught easily, and the conviction grew upon him that while the others from his calling and difference in views and tastes had a natural aversion, she was inclined to be friendly. And yet she puzzled him not a little at times, as now for instance, when she turned and said, "I suppose there are a great many nice young men at your seminary."
"I never heard them called' nice young men,'" he replied, looking at her keenly.
"O, I beg your pardon,—good, pious, devotional young men, I mean."
"All ought to be that; do you not think so?"
"Well, yes, I think so, since they are to become ministers."
"But not otherwise?"
"I didn't say that. There's a hint for you, Julian."
De Forrest's reply was a contemptuous shrug and laugh. It would be anything but agreeable to him to be thought "good, pious, and devotional,"—qualities not in demand at his club, nor insisted on by Lottie, and entirely repugnant to his tastes.
"Do they all intend to be missionaries as well as yourself?" she continued.
"O, no; some no doubt will take city churches, and marry wealthy wives."