'
'It's a pity more of us hadn't that virtue of obedience to a higher
law.'
'Well, perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn't; it's a sign of a very
weak mind.'
'Or a very strong one,' retorted Mary.
'There are natural leaders and natural followers,' remarked Mrs.
Grubb smilingly, as she swayed to and fro in Mary's rocking-chair.
Her smile, like a ballet-dancer's, had no connection with, nor
relation to, the matter of her speech or her state of feeling; it was
what a watchmaker would call a detached movement. 'I can't see,'
said she, 'that it is my duty to send Lisa away to be taught, just
when I need her most. My development is a good deal more important
than hers.'
'Why?'
'Why? Because I have a vocation and a mission; because, if I should
falter or faint by the wayside, hundreds of women who depend on me
for inspiration would fall back into error and suffer permanent loss
and injury.'
'Do you suppose they really would?' asked Mary rather maliciously,
anxious if possible to ruffle the surface of Mrs. Grubb's
exasperating placidity. 'Or would they, of course after a long
period of grief-stricken apathy, attach themselves to somebody else's
classes?'
'They might,' allowed Mrs. Grubb, in a tone of hurt self-respect;
'though you must know, little as you've seen of the world, that no
woman has just the same revelation as any other, and that there are
some who are born to interpret truth to the multitude.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79