She
considered it an appropriate attitude for a widow. "He can't
blame ME if the choir is out of key to-morrow." "Mercy me!"
interrupted the spinster, "if there isn't Julia Strong a-leaning
right out of that window a-looking at the circus, and her pa a
deacon of the church, and this the house of the pastor. It's
shocking! I must go to her."
"Ma, let me see, too," begged Willie, as he tugged at his
mother's skirts.
Mrs. Willoughby hesitated. Miss Perkins was certainly taking a
long while for her argument with Julia. The glow from the red
powder outside the window was positively alarming.
"Dear me!" she said, "I wonder if there can be a fire." And with
this pretext for investigation, she, too, joined the little group
at the window.
A few moments later when Douglas entered for a fresh supply of
paper, the backs of the company were toward him. He crossed to
the study table without disturbing his visitors, and smiled to
himself at the eager way in which they were hanging out of the
window.
Douglas was a sturdy young man of eight and twenty, frank and
boyish in manner, confident and light-hearted in spirit. He had
seemed too young to the deacons when he was appointed to their
church, and his keen enjoyment of outdoor games and other
healthful sports robbed him of a certain dignity in their eyes.
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