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Bates, Arlo, 1850-1918

"The Puritans"

"
"I'm afraid that after a dozen years there's little enough chance of
it."
His mind was so racked upon this wretched question of the right of a
priest to marry, that he could not rest until he had drawn from
Berenice also an expression of opinion on the subject. He made Mr.
Strathmore again the excuse for the introduction of the topic.
"I don't see," he said to her, "how you can think that it's well to
have a married bishop. His wife is sure to be meddling in the affairs
of the diocese."
She looked at him with a mocking glance.
"Do you wish to drag me into a discussion of the wisdom of allowing the
clergy to have wives?" she asked cruelly.
He flushed with confusion, but tried to carry a bold front.
"Very likely it does come down to the general principle of the thing,"
he answered.
"Well then, the question of the marriage of the clergy doesn't interest
me in the least."
She looked so pretty and mischievous that he began to lose his head.
"But it is of the greatest possible interest to me," he returned, with
a manner which gave the words a personal application.
She flushed in her turn, and tossed her head.


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