"But it will do no harm for me to guess it. In the light of your last sharp remarks, I fancy you were going to say: If I were Emmeline I would not marry a cigar smoker.'"
"It is true," Elsie said, laughing a little, "I wouldn't."
"Really? Are you serious about this thing? Do you honestly think there is anything so very wicked about smoking a cigar now and then?"
"What a way to put it! As if a thing must be 'so very wrong' in order to be—not right. As to the 'now and then'—Oh, if you needed a lecture, Ben, I think I could give it; I've thought a great deal about the matter; but just now I was looking at it from such a simple platform that it doesn't need argument. Hal, you know, is a Christian, and he professes to govern all his life by one rule, as a servant who belongs body and purse to Christ. How very easy it would be for him to decide whether he ought to spend his money on cigars!"
Ben, I regret to say, was guilty of the ungentlemanly act of whistling. A low whistle, instantly suppressed, but it expressed his views. "How many Christians do you suppose govern themselves by any such rules?"
"The question has nothing whatever to do with the argument," Elsie said; "but I'll answer it. Very few, I think. Does that annihilate the rule?"
"How fortunate it is for me that we are just at the door," Ben answered, gayly. "Give me the box of cigars, quick; and don't convert Emmeline to your way of thinking, or we shall have no wedding to attend."
I do not know whether, had Elsie known all the temptations and embarrassments to beset her on that very next day, she would have been able to make so emphatic a resolution as the one with which she left the car. A shopping excursion was in order for the morning. Cousin Carrie had a dozen trifles which must be bought that day, and it suited Ben to attend them gallantly all the morning. Now shopping was not a trial to Elsie; it had all the charm of novelty for her, for hitherto her busy young life had known comparatively little of it. On this particular morning the circumstances were particularly agreeable. She had no grave responsibilities, but was merely an interested looker-on, ready to give bits of advice as occasion offered; while nestled away in her pretty porte-monnaie were two shining gold pieces which her father had given her that morning to spend as she pleased. Oh, the charming things that a girl of eighteen may please to buy! Cousin Carrie was a helpful companion in that direction. She had wide-open eyes, and dealt in superlatives:
"Oh, Elsie! Do look at this lovely shade in kids. Aren't they perfectly exquisite? Just your number, too, and, match your new hat exactly. Really, Elsie, you ought to have a pair of those. I never saw a more perfect match."
Elsie looked interested but doubtful. "I have just bought new gloves," she said, "and they match nicely, I think."