"Well, grandmamma, if one took the money to give poor people a good time, it would not be necessary at all, as Judy supposed, to have them brought into our dining room."
"But don't you think people are meant to be sociable, and see their friends? We are not intended to live alone."
"Surely not," said Mrs. Laval.
"Grandmamma, and aunt Zara," said the boy, "I believe I would like to look after Messiah's friends first; and then do what I pleased with my own."
"Do you mean that all those low, miserable people are His friends?" cried Mrs. Bartholomew.
"He is their friend, mamma; it comes to the same thing; and some of them are his very own; and he has given us the charge to take care of them. And his words seem to me very plain."
"He's a ruined boy, mamma!" said Judy.
"I hope he'll grow out of it," said his mother.
"May I read one place more, grandmamma?" Matilda asked.
"I hope it's the last," said Mrs. Bartholomew.