"Like this evening, Mr. Richmond?"
"Like this evening light and beauty, after coming out of Mrs. Eldridge's house."
"And then, will this world seem like Mrs. Eldridge's house?"
"I think it will, in the contrast. Look at those dainty little flecks of cloud yonder, low down in the sky, that seem to have caught the light in their vaporous drapery and embodied it. See what brilliance of colour is there, and upon what a pure sky beyond!"
"Will this ever seem like Mrs. Eldridge's house?" said Matilda.
"This is the world that God made," said the minister, smiling. "I was thinking of the world that man has made."
"Lilac Lane, Mr. Richmond?" said Matilda, glancing around her. They were hardly out of it.
"Lilac Lane is not such a bad specimen," said the minister, with a sigh this time. "There is much worse than this, Matilda. And the worst of Lilac Lane is what you do not see. You had to buy your opportunity, then?" he added, with a smile again, looking down at Matilda.
"I suppose I had, Mr. Richmond."
"What did you pay?"