Its worm-eaten heart spoils the beauty of the entire cluster."
"I fear you artists become too critical and exacting. Well, cut
it out. I will submit to art in roses, but feel that marred and
defective lives should have very different treatment."
"That depends. If people persist in cherishing some worm of evil,
they cannot expect to be held in the same esteem as those who are
aiming at a more perfect development. There, now! does not our
cluster appear much better?"
"Yes; and yet I cannot help feeling sorry for the poor little bud
that has missed its one chance to bloom, and all will wither unless
I hasten to my room and put them in water."
In her prejudice against Ida she had not looked towards her while
talking with Van Berg, but in passing, a hasty glance almost caused
her to stay and speak to her, for she thought she saw her eyes
full of unshed tears. But her glance was brief and her prejudice
strong. Miss Burton had not a little of the wholesome feminine
intolerance for certain weaknesses in her sex. She would counsel
a wife to endure a bad husband with a meek and patient spirit. But
gentle as she was, she would scorn the maiden who could be attracted
by a corrupt man, and almost loathe her for indulging in such
an affinity.
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