"
"Then why be resentful?" inquired she. "Why not merely pity us?
Why this heat and seeming jealousy?"
"Because I love your granddaughter," replied Craig, the adroit at
debate. "It pains, it angers me to see a girl who might have been
a useful wife, a good mother, trained and set to such base uses."
The old lady admired his skillful parry. "Let us not discuss
that," said she. "We look at life from different points of view.
No human being can see beyond his own point of view. Only God sees
life as a whole, sees how its seeming inconsistencies and
injustices blend into a harmony. Your mistake--pardon an old
woman's criticism of experience upon inexperience--your mistake is
that you arrogate to yourself divine wisdom and set up a personal
opinion as eternal truth."
"That is very well said, admirably said," cried Craig. Madam
Bowker would have been better pleased with the compliment had the
tone been less gracious and less condescending.
"To return to the main subject," continued she. "Your hesitation
about my granddaughter does credit to your manliness and to your
sense. I have known marriages between people of different station
and rank to turn out well--again--"
"That's the second or third time you've made that insinuation,"
burst out Craig.
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