"
"But surely you cannot mean that you consider age an excuse for
either incivility or irreligion," rejoined her lover, pushing aside an
impertinent carrot flower that had shed its pollen on his long coat,
while he regarded his mother's back with the expression of indignant
suspicion he unconsciously assumed on the rare occasions when his
opinions were disputed. "Age should mellow, should soften, should
sweeten."
"I suppose it should, but very often it doesn't," retorted Molly, a
trifle tartly, for the sermon had bored her and she looked forward with
dread to the dinner.
At her words Mrs. Mullen, who was walking a little ahead, with her
skirts held up to avoid the yellow stain of the golden-rod, glanced
sharply back, as she had done in church when old Adam had coughed at the
wrong time and spoiled the full effect of a period.
"One reason that Orlando is so helpful to people is that he always sees
so clearly just what they ought to be," she observed. "I don't believe
there's a man in the ministry or out, who has a higher ideal of woman
and her duty."
"But do women ever live up to his ideal of them?"
"It isn't his fault if they don't.
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