Mrs. Opimian. You need not finish the quotation.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. Agapêtê is often translated 'adoptive sister.' A very possible relation, I think, where there are vows of celibacy, and inward spiritual grace.
Mrs. Opimian. Very possible, indeed: and equally possible where there are none.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. But more possible where there are seven adoptive sisters, than where there is only one.
Mrs. Opimian. Perhaps.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. The manners, my dear, of these damsels towards their young master are infallible indications of the relations between them. Their respectful deference to him is a symptom in which I cannot be mistaken.
Mrs. Opimian. I hope you are not.
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. I am sure I am not. I would stake all my credit for observation and experience on the purity of the seven Vestals. I am not strictly accurate in calling them so: for in Rome the number of Vestals was only six. But there were seven Pleiads, till one disappeared. We may fancy she became a seventh Vestal. Or as the planets used to be seven, and are now more than fifty, we may pass a seventh Vestal in the name of modern progress.
Mrs. Opimian. There used to be seven deadly sins. How many has modern progress added to them?
The Rev. Dr. Opimian. None, I hope, my dear. But this will be due, not to its own tendencies, but to the comprehensiveness of the old definitions.