"You have a sharp tongue, Miss Webster. All I hinted at was that country people are slow to exercise their individual judgment on any question. They follow each other like a flock of sheep."
"And aren't they wise to do it when they have so kind and good a shepherd?" with a glance at the rector's handsome head, as he stood at a little distance off, talking with a happy, radiant face to her mother. "I wish you would tell me what possible motive you had in trying to upset a man who lives in the hearts of his people."
Paul was interested in spite of himself, for he saw that May had passed from brilliant nonsense to earnestness.
"It was not the man I wished to upset—nobody can fail to appreciate his simple earnestness,—but it is his principle. And your very intolerance makes me feel that I was right to state the other side of the question."
"We won't quarrel any more; I'm tired of it," said May, with a quick change of mood. "Let us look at all the people who are ready to bide by their words, as Macdonald puts it."
The subscription list was headed by the rector with two hundred pounds.
"He's not a rich man," said May, pointing to the sum.
"And he can't be a poor one," retorted Paul.
May seated herself and toyed with the pen which lay upon the table.
"I'm in a difficulty; I want an opinion."