"This dread is the one cloud on my horizon, dear lady, the one discord in my life's harmony. You happy thin people do not know what troubles flesh is heir to, nor what fears."
"Do you think bread so dangerous?" asked Isabel.
"The most fattening thing in the world. I had a friend who said he once inadvertently asked for bread, and he gained a stone in a week."
Isabel laughed. "Then let us be content with only half a loaf; and, if we value our figures, we had better have that toasted."
"Contentment is often only a euphemism for cowardice," said Edgar.
"I am afraid S. Paul did not agree with you," remarked Mr. Seaton.
Edgar smiled; one of the reasons why he was so lovable was that he never lost his temper nor turned rusty in an argument. "S. Paul added godliness to the prescription, however, before he recommended it for general use," he said pleasantly.
Mr. Seaton laughed.
"It seems to me," continued Edgar, "that to bind oneself down to follow any particular party through thick and thin, is to do despite to one's own individuality."
"You know nothing at all about it," exclaimed his father.