"Don't you like pretty things?"
"Too well, I am afraid."
"You cannot like them too well. Pretty things were meant to be liked. What else were they made for? And of all pretty things—O, those carpets and rugs! Lois, I never saw or dreamed of anything so magnificent. I should like to be rich, for once!"
"To buy a Persian carpet?"
"Yes. That and other things. Why not?"
"Madge, don't you know this was what grandmother was afraid of, when we were learning to know Mr. Dillwyn?"
"What?" said Madge defiantly.
"That we would be bewitched—or dazzled—and lose sight of better things; I think 'bewitched' is the word; all these beautiful things and this luxurious comfort—it is bewitching; and so are the fine manners and the cultivation and the delightful talk. I confess it. I feel it as much as you do; but this is just what dear grandmother wanted to protect us from."
"What did she want to protect us from?" repeated Madge vehemently. "Not Persian carpets, nor luxury; we are not likely to be tempted by either of them in Shampuashuh."
"We might here."