“The answer was dispatched, and afterwards, as we came in from a drive, Mrs. Merlin said to the servant, ‘James, watch the weather, and let me know the moment it begins to rain.’ The rain came just in time to serve our purpose. So when Dr. Merlin returned from his medical round, we sat comfortably down to dinner; in the midst of which, my first surprise began. ‘We were invited to Mrs. Morley’s to day, dear,’ said Mrs. Merlin; ‘but I knew you would be tired, and not fit to go, and I should not have liked to leave you alone, so I declined it.’
“The doctor thanked her with a grateful smile, which I could not help thinking was very little merited. Trifling, however, was this variation, compared with the hypocrisy of the following morning, when Mrs. Morley herself happened to call. I looked so provokingly well, that Mrs. Merlin was forced to say ‘she really hoped my cold had almost departed; but, being an only child, I was such a precious charge, that she sometimes felt almost a nervous responsibility. I told my friend,’ continued she, ‘what an agreeable visit it would be, and charged James to watch the weather to the very last minute.’ Now, papa, both these assertions were, in a sense, verbally true, but do you not think, in reality, they were falsehoods?”
“Most assuredly. I would not knowingly have placed you under such influence upon any consideration. I cannot feel sufficiently thankful, my love, that you were not contaminated. The reaction produced on your mind is harmless, compared with what assimilation would have been. We will take care how we subject Mrs. Merlin again to such a nervous responsibility.”
“Yet, papa,” observed Emma, half frightened at the decision with which her parent spoke, “Mrs. Merlin is uniformly kind to me; and she is often an improving, and always a most entertaining companion. The society, too, which I meet there, is calculated to impart a little polish, of which I have considerable need.”
“No, Emma, I would not give a farthing for such varnish. May your character shine throughout with Christian brightness, springing from the cultivation, not the destruction of principle. I thought more favorably of Mrs. Merlin; for with characteristic dexterity, when conversing with me, she has suited herself to my taste. Even now, however, I would not speak with severity; she has been brought up under much disadvantage, and possibly persuades herself that these subterfuges are harmless, polite, and ingenious. I trust one day she will judge more correctly; but in the mean time I should grieve to subject you to such familiarity with deceit as might lessen your abhorrence of it. I can never consent to any future intimacy with Mrs. Merlin, till I have reason to regard her as a recipient of that grace, which teaches truth in the very heart. You remember the hymn, Emma,—
‘Let those who bear the Christian name
Their holy vows fulfil;
The saints, the followers of the Lamb,
Are men of honor still.
Still with their lips their hearts agree,