"
"Oh, I've already given up the office of tempter," she responded
quickly. "I found a rival, and that I never could endure. You'll have
your temptation with you."
It seemed to Maurice when he came to take his seat in the parlor car
that his cousin was little short of a witch. In the chair next to his
own sat Berenice Morison. She greeted him with a friendly nod and
smile.
"Mrs. Wilson told me that you were going on this train," she said,
"and she got a chair for you next to mine so that you should take care
of me."
He bowed rather confusedly, but with his heart full of delight.
"I shall be glad to do anything I can for you," he answered, vexed that
he had not a better reply at command.
He saw the dapper young man across the aisle regard him curiously, and
a feeling of dissatisfaction came over him as he reflected upon the
singularity of his garb, and the incongruity between the clerical dress
and the squiring of dames. Religious fervor is nourished by martyrdom,
but it is seldom proof against ridicule. It is not impossible that the
faint shade of amusement which Maurice fancied he detected in the eyes
of the stranger opposite was a more effective cause for discontent with
his calling than any of the influences to which he had been exposed
under the auspices of Mrs.
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