"Miss Dorothy, that is not at all necessary," with a show of impatience. "I can give you their views. It is true they believe in immersion, but they have a horrible view about it. They believe that unless you are dipped you are doomed. They think infant baptism was born in the lower regions, and as for the communion they are as close as a clam, and in addition to this they have achieved brilliant success in the matter of ignorance and bigotry."
"Daughter," said Mr. Page with much earnestness, "keep on the other side of the road from that gang. There are some things that a father knows better than a daughter."
"Father, you would not object to my hearing a Baptist preacher tell what his denomination believes, would you?"
It occurred to the father that that would be the quickest plan for curing Dorothy of any curiosity she might have about the Baptists. He thought that a sight of that preacher would show her the impossibility of her linking herself with his people, and so he said:
"Yes, daughter, that will be all right. Hear the preacher. Let us all hear him and get his side of the question."
"Mr. Page," said Sterling, "I think it would be humiliating to you and your family to be entering into negotiations with that preacher about the views of his sect."
"Mercy, are they so very terrible?" asked Dorothy.
"They are not a wicked people, so far as I know," said Sterling. "They are a fairly good sort of people probably. In fact, our country is a fruitful soil for all manner of sects, with all sorts of peculiar doctrines."
"Are the Baptists a regular denomination like the other denominations?"
"In a sense I guess they are, and yet they are not in a class with the other prominent denominations."