“Oh, we’re just having a little flirtation, that’s all,” said Grace carelessly.
“That’s not the way you’re acting! You’re terribly intense, Grace. I knew you had temperament, but I didn’t know you had so much. But I’ll say this for Ward, that he’s a fine, manly fellow,—frankly a much finer type than Tommy Kemp. Tommy’s a sport and Ward isn’t. Ward really has ideals, but such as Tommy has don’t worry him much.”
This left Grace, again a prey to doubts, wondering whether after all Trenton was so utterly different from Kemp. Intellectually he was a higher type than Tommy Kemp, but when it came to morals he was not a bit better.
V
Grace had not yet wholly escaped from the effect of Dr. Ridgely’s sermon, with its warning against the too-readily-found excuse for wrong-doing. She continued to observe carefully her associates in Shipley’s and other business girls she became acquainted with, and she had no reason for suspecting that by far the greater number were not high-minded young women who met cheerily all the circumstances of their lives. She found herself stumbling uncomfortably over the excuses she made for herself. Other girls forced to labor and blessed with equal charm and wit did not find it necessary “to play around with married men” as the phrase went, or encourage the attentions of young unmarried men who were not likely to show them every respect. There were societies and associations whose purpose was to safeguard young womanhood; some of her new acquaintances were members of such organizations. She accepted invitations to go for lunch or supper to several of these, but thought them dull.
Finding that Grace hadn’t attempted to enlist Miss Reynolds in the girl’s club of Dr. Ridgley’s church, Ethel Durland had sent the pastor himself to invite that lady to one of the meetings.
“I hope you will come Tuesday night,” said Ethel, when she reported this to Grace. “We want Miss Reynolds to see the scope of our work and your being there will be a help. Maybe you’d ask some of the girls in Shipley’s? We want to have a record attendance. And we want the girls to bring their young men friends with them. It’s our idea that the girls should feel that the church is like another home.”
The attempt to establish a new high record of attendance brought twenty-five girls and four young men to the church parlors. Three of the young women were from Shipley’s and they had gone at Grace’s earnest solicitation; four were Servians, employed in a garment factory, and they were convoyed by young men of their own race.
“I wish you’d be specially nice to those Servian girls,” Ethel remarked to Grace. “It wasn’t easy to get them to come, but they brought their beaux with them. We must be sure they have a good time.”
The beaux did not seem to relish the hopeless minority of their sex. The meeting was opened formally by Ethel as chairman of the entertainment committee. She introduced Dr. Ridgely, who expressed the hope that the club would develop into one of the strongest agencies of the church. He referred to religion only indirectly. Grace was again impressed by his sincerity; and he was tactful and gracious in his effort to put the visitors at ease. He would not linger, he said, as a reminder that they were in a church; the evening was theirs and he wanted the club to manage its own affairs and define its own policy to meet the tastes and needs of the members. No one of any shade of religious faith could have taken offense from anything he said or feared that the pastor wished to use the club for proselyting purposes. However, when he had left, Ethel Durland extended an invitation to those present who were not already enrolled in the Sunday school to become affiliated, and urged attendance upon the regular church services.