Just at present his ways are specially disturbing.
You noticed him this afternoon, I think! The young girl in his company
belongs to my Sabbath-school. I have a deep interest in her, partly
because she is the sort of girl who is always more or less in danger
in this wicked world, and partly because she is capable of strongly
influencing another, who is a special _protege_ of mine."
"Who is the girl?" Gracie's manner was abrupt, and her voice
constrained. It was evident that she was making great effort to control
herself, and appear indifferent to all parties.
The doctor took no notice of her constraint.
"Her name is Mason. Hester Mason. She attends the Packard Place
Sabbath-school, which you know I superintend. She is motherless, and
worse than fatherless; is a clerk in one of the Fourth Avenue stores,
and is, or was, inclined to be what is called gay. I do not know that
that term conveys any special meaning to you; in young men I think they
call the same line of conduct 'fast.' I hope and believe that you would
not well understand either term; yet, I think, possibly, that watching
her this afternoon in a public hall will give you some conception of the
stretch that there is between yourself and her.
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