"Of course," said Mrs. Laval; "we do consider the poor."
"Let the child go on," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I want to hear all she has to bring."
Matilda went on with Job's declaration.
"'If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (for from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) if I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.'"
"Who said that?" demanded Mrs. Bartholomew.
"Job."
"I don't see what he has to do with us," said the lady, moving her rosetted slipper impatiently, and so making a soft little rustle with the lilac ruffles of her silk skirt.
"The old fellow had no business to swear, anyhow," said Norton.
"Swear!" said Judy.
"Something very like it," said Norton.