"Isn't it sad, father?" she said earnestly, after she had given him all the details of the situation, "sad for poor Mrs. Medland and Malvina, I mean?"
"Yes, and sadder still for the misguided girl—Lottie, do you call her? What sort of girl is she?" he asked, glancing at his wife.
"Very good-looking, and not at all loud in her manners like so many of the factory hands," Mrs. Reed replied; "but she is very unlike Malvina, who is about a year her senior, I believe. Lottie has not been earning her own living long. I had hoped the family would have been in more comfortable circumstances now, but of course if Lottie squanders her wages the others have no chance of getting on. She will drag them down."
"I call Lottie a wicked, selfish girl," said Ann, with unusual severity in her tone, "she's very fond of dress and pleasure—very different from Malvina."
"My dear Ann, isn't it natural that a healthy girl should be fonder of dress and pleasure than a poor hunchback?" questioned her father gravely. "Did it never occur to you that by reason of her affliction your deformed friend is set apart from many temptations? Don't let your sympathy for one sister make you too hard on the other."
"But, Dr. Reed, it is very selfish of Lottie to spend her money in betting!" exclaimed Violet, her brown eyes sparkling with indignation. "And surely it must be wrong to bet?"
"Surely it is," agreed the doctor; "for, look at it in what light you may, it cannot be argued that any good can come of it, whilst we see its evil results on every side. I have little doubt that this Lottie is a foolish, ignorant girl—a selfish one, too, as you say—led away by the hope of making money without working for it. We must try not to be too hard upon her, however, but remember her temptations. Poor girl, she is greatly to be pitied. I wish something could be done to prevent the factory women betting, but it is a difficult problem to tackle. By the way, I think you remarked that these Medlands are patients of Dr. Elizabeth's? Would a word of warning from Dr. Elizabeth have any influence with this girl, Lottie, I wonder?"
"I don't know, perhaps so," Ann replied; "mother does not think she can interfere, and, when one comes to think about it, if she did Lottie would know that Malvina had been talking to us about her, and she might be resentful to her sister."
"I really know very little of Lottie," Mrs. Reed remarked, "I never knew any of the family till Dr. Elizabeth asked me if I could give Malvina an order for some crochet. No, I don't think I can interfere in this case."
"No," agreed her husband, "but Dr. Elizabeth might. She feels very strongly on this betting question, and I believe, if it was suggested to her, she would make it her business to see if anything can be done to keep this poor girl from ruin—it means ruin if she persists in the course she has begun."