At her feet the
violets were blooming. There came a breeze, and the blossom of a poplar
sapling brushed her face and shed its perfume in her hair.
"In the city all is struggle and plot," she said, and musing for a time
in silence, she continued: "But here all seems to be innocence and
beauty."
"Not all innocence, ma'm," the preacher replied. "The poisonous insect
sometimes lives where the air is sweet. There is no land that is not in
need of the doctrine of gentleness. To the lovely eye almost all things
may look lovely--"
"Thank you," she broke in.
"Oh, not at all," he replied, unable to remember his ease of a moment
ago. "The fact is I don't believe we are goin' to have any rain for some
time yet. Needin' it a little, now, too."
"You were talking in a different strain just now and I interrupted you.
I am sorry. Let me lead you back."
"I don't hardly know where I was, ma'm. The fact is, I'm always about
half lost when I'm with you."
"Mr. Reverend, don't embarrass me."
"Embarrass you? Ma'm, I haven't had a fight in a good while, but if a
feller was to come along and embarrass you, why he'd soon have reason to
think that scarlet fever had broke out in the neighborhood.
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