And Louise, as he went away, realized, with a throb of pain, that she wanted the minister to make a definite impression for good, not only on Dorothy and John, but on her husband. Perhaps she never prayed more constantly for the success of any apparently small matter than she did for this tea-drinking. Her interest even extended to the dress that Dorothy wore. She knew well it would be a somewhat rusty black one; but the door of that young lady's room being ajar, and she being visible, in the act of adding to her toilet an ugly red necktie that set her face aflame, Louise ventured a suggestion.
"O Dorrie, if you would wear some soft laces with that dress, how pretty it would be!"
"I know it," said Dorothy, snatching off the red tie as she spoke. "But I haven't any. I hate this necktie; I don't know why, but I just hate it. Mother bought it because it was cheap!"—immense disgust expressed in tone and manner. "That is surely the only recommendation it has."
"I have some soft laces that will be just the thing for you," Louise said in eagerness, and she ran back to her room for them.
"These are cheap," returning with a box of fluffy ruchings. "They cost less than ribbon in the first place, and will do up as well as linen collars."
New items these to Dorothy. The idea that anything so white and soft and beautiful could also be cheap! A mistaken notion had this young woman that everything beautiful was costly.
"Let me arrange them," Louise said in a flutter of satisfaction, lifting her heart in prayer as she worked.
Praying about a lace ruffle! Oh yes, indeed; why not? If they are proper to wear, why not proper to speak of to the Father who clothes the lilies and numbers the very hairs of our head? Actually praying that the delicate laces might aid in lifting Dorothy into a reasonable degree of self-appreciation, and so relieve, somewhat, the excessive timidity which Satan was successfully using against her. I wonder, has it ever occurred to young people that Satan can make use of timidity as well as boldness?
"There," said Louise, as she arranged the puffy knots, giving those curious little touches which the tasteful woman understands so well and finds so impossible to teach.
"Aren't they pretty?" And she stood back to view the effect.