Therefore there was an element of confession in all the prayers that
moved Gracie Dennis strangely. Especially was this the case when she
heard her old acquaintance, Flossy, pour out her soul's longings. It
happened, so strange are the customs of Christians, that though this was
the daughter of a minister of the gospel, herself a Christian, she had
never before heard a lady pray in the presence of gentlemen. She had
heard of their doing so; heard them criticised with sharp sarcasm. Some
of the criticisms which had sounded full of keenness and wit when she
heard them, recurred to her at this time, and some way, with Flossy's
low, earnest voice filling her heart, they dwindled into shallowness and
coarseness. All the same, their baneful influence was on her, and helped
to hold her back from opening her lips, for the critic had been
Professor Ellis.
When the hostess and her young guest were left alone together that
evening, the latter had a question to ask:--
"Flossy Shipley!"--the name you will remember which she always went back
to when excited--"I didn't know you believed in praying in
_public_! Have you changed in _everything_?"
"In public, my dear!" with a quiet smile; "why, I am in my own house!"
"Oh, yes; but you know what I mean--before gentlemen.
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