"But then, especially if one is rich, people will say—"
"The question with me is, what the Master will say."
"People will not want to come to see you, will they, on those terms?"
"Those will who care to see us," said Mr. Southwode; "and I confess those are the only ones I care to see. The people who come merely for the entertainment can find that as well elsewhere."
"One thing is certain," said Rotha. "A house could not be furnished to suit both those styles of guests."
"Then the Bible bids us bring the poor that are cast out, to our houses."
"But that you cannot! Not always," said Rotha. "They are not fit for it."
"There is discretion to be observed, certainly. You would not invite a tramp into your drawing room. But I have known two instances, Rotha, in which a miserable and very degraded drunkard was saved to himself and to society, saved for time and eternity, just in that way; by being taken into a gentleman's house, and cared for and trusted and patiently borne with, until his reformation was complete. In those cases the individuals, it is true, had belonged to the respectable and educated classes of society; but at the time they were brought to the gutter."
"That is not easy work!" said Rotha shaking her head.
"Not when you think of Christ's 'Inasmuch'?"