my Toy Shop she will feel the family disgraced by this one member who
is in trade. It was only in the later years that I found myself, that
I realized how I might reach out towards things which were broader and
bigger than the old ideals of aristocratic birth and inherited
possessions."

He thought of Hilda. "Yet it gave you something, Emily," he said,
slowly, "that not every woman has: good-breeding, and the ability to
look above the sordid. You are like Jean--all your world is
rose-colored."

She was thoughtful. "Not quite like Jean. I heard a dear old bishop
ask the other day why we should see only the ash cans and garbage cans
in our back yards when there was blue sky above? I know there are ash
cans and garbage cans, but I make myself look at the sky. Jean doesn't
know that the cans are there."

"The realists will tell you that you should keep your eyes on the cans."

"I don't believe it," said Miss Emily, stoutly; "more people are made
good by the contemplation of the fine and beautiful than by the
knowledge of evil. Eve knew that punishment would follow the eating of
the apple. But she ate it. If I had a son I should tell him of the
strength of men, not of their weaknesses."

He nodded. "I see. And yet there is this about Hilda. She does not
deceive herself;--perhaps you do--and Jean."

"Perhaps it is Hilda who is deceived. All the people in the world are
not unlovely--all of them are not mercenary and deceitful and selfish."