Free Dolores by Ivy Compton-Burnett Page B

to.”
    â€œDear Herbert,” said Mrs Blackwood, “do think of what you are doing, and attend to the wants of our guests. Mr Billing has not anything yet.”
    â€œOh—no—not at all—no; thank you, thank you, Mr Blackwood,” said Mr Billing; jumping in reception of his plate.
    â€œI hope we shall hear you speak on Temperance soon, Mr Billing,” said Lettice.
    â€œOh, there will not be any need, Mr Billing,” said Elsa. “Father and mother will take all that off your hands. They get quite jealous of anybody else’s speaking on Temperance.
    â€œElsa, how can you say such things?” saidMrs Blackwood. “Your father and I do our best for the cause we have so much at heart; but if the work should be taken from us by abler hands than ours, we could do nothing but rejoice.”
    â€œYes, that is it, my darling,” said Mr Blackwood. “You are right, as you always are—as I have found you on every occasion for twenty years.”
    â€œHow pret-ty it is to hear him!” said Mrs Merton-Vane, looking round the company.
    â€œHerbert, do not be so absurd, dear,” said Mrs Blackwood.
    â€œDo you—are you—you are a teetotaler too, I suppose, Mr Hutton?” said Mr Billing, nervously, to the Reverend Cleveland; whom, dissenter on principle though he was, he could not but regard as a weighty personality, and a fit object for affable address, and whose open smile at Elsa’s words he had not perceived.
    â€œNo,” said the Reverend Cleveland without elaboration.
    â€œWe cant
all
feel the same about ev-er-y-thing,” said Mrs Merton-Vane, inclining her head.
    â€œAh, well, Mr Billing, we hope to convince the Vicar in time,” said Mr Blackwood.
    â€œWe—are told,” interposed Dr Cassell, “to ‘take a little wine for our health’s sake, and for our often infirmities.’”
    â€œOh, but, doctor,” said Mrs Blackwood, with eager shrillness, “it is definitely proved that the wine in those days had practically no intoxicating power. We cannot accept such different conditions as parallel. I was reading such an admirable little treatise on the question the other day. It put the different arguments so very powerfully. You would be most interested in it, I am sure, doctor. Would he not, Lettice?”
    â€œYes, he could not fail to be,” said Lettice. “There was so much interesting information in it, besides the treatment of the main question; and that, of course, was exceedingly able.”
    â€œI believe,” said Dr Cassell, “that there are many different views upon the subject.”
    â€œOh, yes,” said Mrs Blackwood, gesticulating slightly with her hand; “but all those were discussed and most convincingly refuted. Nothing was glossed over, or passed by without perfectly fair treatment. I really must find the booklet for you, Dr Cassell. Do not forget to remind me, Lettice, dear.”
    â€œOh, I would not read it, Dr Cassell,” said Elsa. “It is only one of mother’s tracts.”
    â€œOh, you fun-ny child!” said Mrs Merton-Vane, looking at Mr Hutton.
    â€œBut surely,” interposed Mrs Cassell in very gentle tones, breaking off her dialogue with Mrs Hutton, to fulfil the duty of seconding her husband; “it is not for us to put our owninterpretation on the words. Surely they should be enough for us as they stand.”
    â€œNo, I don’t agree with you there, Mrs Cassell,” said Mr Blackwood loudly; “I don’t agree with you. I remain a staunch upholder of
Temperance
myself. We Wesleyans don’t shrink from showing our colours for a cause we honestly have at heart; and I shall never shrink from showing mine for Temperance. Ah, yes; there are Wesleyans in every part of the world, showing their colours for what they believe in their hearts to be right.”
    â€œOf course the Wesleyans are the largest religious