"
"Oh, Richard!" said Polly, and threw an anxious glance over her
shoulder. "If anyone should hear you!"
"We can't afford to let our lives be governed by what other people
think, Polly. Nor will I give any man the right to decide for me what my
share of the Truth shall be."
On seeing the Bible closed Polly breathed again, at the same time
promising herself to take the traitorous volume into safe-keeping, that
no third person's eye should rest on it. Perhaps, too, if it were put
away Richard would forget to go on writing in it. He had probably begun
in the first place only because he had nothing else to do. In the store
he sat and smoked and twirled his thumbs--not half a dozen customers
came in, in the course of the day. If he were once properly occupied
again, with work that he liked, he would not be tempted to put his gifts
to such a profane use. Thus she primed herself for speaking. For now was
the time. Richard was declaring that trade had gone to the dogs, his
takings dropped to a quarter of what they had formerly been. This headed
just where she wished. But Polly would not have been Polly, had she not
glanced aside for a moment, to cheer and console.
"It's the same everywhere, Richard. Everybody's complaining. And that
reminds me, I forgot to tell you about the Beamishes. They're in great
trouble. You see, a bog has formed in front of the Hotel, and the
traffic goes round another way, so they've lost most of their custom.
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