"Indeed?" said Annie, dryly; "I was not aware of it."
"I too am astonished," said Walter, in mock solemnity. "How is it that a refined and orthodox young lady, a pillar of the church, too, I gather, can regard with other than unmixed disapprobation a man who breaks the third commandment and all the rules of Lindley Murray at every breath?"
"I imagine the latter offence is the more heinous sin in your eyes, Mr.
Gregory," she said, scanning his face with a quick look.
"Oh, you become aggressive. I was under the impression that I was making the attack and that you were on the defensive. But I can readily explain the opinion which you, perhaps not unjustly, impute to me. You and I judge this venerable sinner from different standpoints."
"You explain your judgment, but do not justify it," replied Annie, quietly.
"Annie, I don't see on what grounds you call Daddy Tuggar a good man," said Miss Eulie, emphatically.
"Please understand me, aunty," said Annie, earnestly. "I did not say he was a Christian man, but merely a good man as the world goes; and I know I shall shock you when I say that I have more faith in him than in his praying and Scripture-quoting wife. There, I knew I should," she added, as she saw Miss Eulie's look of pained surprise.
Mr. Walton was listening with an amused smile. He evidently understood his quaint old friend and shared Annie's opinion of him.
Gregory was growing decidedly interested, and said, "Really, Miss Walton, I must side with your aunt in this matter. I shall overwhelm you with an awful word. I think you are latitudinarian in your tendencies."
"Which Daddy Tuggar would call a new-fangled way of swearing at me," retorted Annie, with her frank laugh that was so genuinely mirthful that even Aunt Eulie joined in it.