登陆注册
5380300000013

第13章

We're nigh onto $300 behind-hand this minute.Besides your house-rent, you get $800 free an' clear--that is $15.38every week, an' only you an' your wife to keep out of it.

Why, when I was your age, young man, and after that too, I was glad to get $4 a week.""I don't think my salary is under discussion, Mr.Pierce--""BROTHER Pierce!" suggested Winch, in a half-shuckling undertone.

"Brother Pierce, then!" echoed Theron, impatiently.

"The Quarterly Conference and the Estimating Committee deal with that.The trustees have no more to do with it than the man in the moon.""Come, come, Brother Ware," put in Erastus Winch, "we mustn't have no hard feelin's.Brotherly love is what we're all lookin' after.Brother Pierce's meanin'

wasn't agin your drawin' your full salary, every cent of it, only--only there are certain little things connected with the parsonage here that we feel you ought to bear.

F'r instance, there's the new sidewalk we had to lay in front of the house here only a month ago.Of course, if the treasury was flush we wouldn't say a word about it.

An' then there's the gas bill here.Seein' as you get your rent for nothin', it don't seem much to ask that you should see to lightin' the place yourself.""No, I don't think that either is a proper charge upon me,"interposed Theron."I decline to pay them.""We can have the gas shut off," remarked Brother Pierce, coldly.

"As soon as you like," responded the minister, sitting erect and tapping the carpet nervously with his foot.Only you must understand that I will take the whole matter to the Quarterly Conference in July.I already see a good many other interesting questions about the financial management of this church which might be appropriately discussed there.""Oh, come, Brother Ware!" broke in Trustee Winch, with a somewhat agitated assumption of good-feeling."Surely these are matters we ought to settle amongst ourselves.

We never yet asked outsiders to meddle with our business here.

It's our motto, Brother Ware.I say, if you've got a motto, stand by it.""Well, my motto," said Theron, "is to be behaved decently to by those with whom I have to deal; and I also propose to stand by it."Brother Pierce rose gingerly to his feet, with the hesitation of an old man not sure about his knees.

When he had straightened himself, he put on his hat, and eyed the minister sternly from beneath its brim.

"The Lord gives us crosses grievous to our natur',"he said, "an' we're told to bear 'em cheerfully as long as they're on our backs; but there ain't nothin' said agin our unloadin' 'em in the ditch the minute we git the chance.

I guess you won't last here more 'n a twelvemonth."He pulled his soft and discolored old hat down over his brows with a significantly hostile nod, and, turning, stumped toward the hall-door without offering to shake hands.

The other trustees had risen likewise, in tacit recognition that the meeting was over.Winch clasped the minister's hand in his own broad, hard palm, and squeezed it in an exuberant grip."Don't mind his little ways, Brother Ware,"he urged in a loud, unctuous whisper, with a grinning backward nod: "he's a trifle skittish sometimes when you don't give him free rein; but he's all wool an' a yard wide when it comes to right-down hard-pan religion.

My love to Sister Ware;" and he followed the senior trustee into the hall.

Mr.Gorringe had been tying up his books and papers.

He came now with the bulky parcel under his arm, and his hat and stick in the other hand.He could give little but his thumb to Theron to shake.His face wore a grave expression, and not a line relaxed as, catching the minister's look, he slowly covered his left eye in a deliberate wink.

"Well?--and how did it go off?" asked Alice, from where she knelt by the oven door, a few minutes later.

For answer, Theron threw himself wearily into the big old farm rocking-chair on the other side of the stove, and shook his head with a lengthened sigh.

"If it wasn't for that man Gorringe of yours,"he said dejectedly, "I think I should feel like going off--and learning a trade."

Chapter IV

On the following Sunday, young Mrs.Ware sat alone in the preacher's pew through the morning service, and everybody noted that the roses had been taken from her bonnet.

In the evening she was absent, and after the doxology and benediction several people, under the pretence of solicitude for her health, tried to pump her husband as to the reason.He answered their inquiries civilly enough, but with brevity: she had stayed at home because she did not feel like coming out--this and nothing more.

The congregation dispersed under a gossip-laden cloud of consciousness that there must be something queer about Sister Ware.There was a tolerably general agreement, however, that the two sermons of the day had been excellent.Not even Loren Pierce's railing commentary on the pastor's introduction of an outlandish word like "epitome"--clearly forbidden by the Discipline's injunction to plain language understood of the people--availed to sap the satisfaction of the majority.

Theron himself comprehended that he had pleased the bulk of his auditors; the knowledge left him curiously hot and cold.On the one hand, there was joy in the apparent prospect that the congregation would back him up in a stand against the trustees, if worst came to worst.

But, on the other hand, the bonnet episode entered his soul.

It had been a source of bitter humiliation to him to see his wife sitting there beneath the pulpit, shorn by despotic order of the adornments natural to her pretty head.

But he had even greater pain in contemplating the effect it had produced on Alice herself.She had said not a word on the subject, but her every glance and gesture seemed to him eloquent of deep feeling about it.

同类推荐
  • 清平山堂话本

    清平山堂话本

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 江阴城守纪

    江阴城守纪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 胡仲子集

    胡仲子集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 方壶外史

    方壶外史

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上正一盟威法箓

    太上正一盟威法箓

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 帝王爱:腹黑妃子斗后宫

    帝王爱:腹黑妃子斗后宫

    她,是步入后宫的女子,也是深陷阴谋的宠妃。她只想做一个无忧的女子,却逼不得已,一步一步走到双手沾满鲜血……
  • 夕阳残照(最受学生喜爱的散文精粹)

    夕阳残照(最受学生喜爱的散文精粹)

    《最受学生喜爱的散文精粹》从喧嚣中缓缓走来,如一位许久不见的好友,收拾了一路趣闻,满载着一眼美景,静静地与你分享。靠近它,你会忘记白日里琐碎的工作,沉溺于片刻的宁谧。靠近它,你也会忘却烦恼,还心灵一片晴朗。一个人在其一生中,阅读一些立意深远、具有丰富哲学思考的散文,不仅可以开阔视野,重新认识历史、社会、人生和自然,获得思想上的盎然新意,而且还可以学习中外散文名家高超而成熟的创作技巧。
  • 逆天女王

    逆天女王

    叶茜作为一个天文爱好者,穿越之后,自己出现在了一个空旷而神秘的世界里......到最后才发现原来这一切都是一场梦
  • 春城边缘

    春城边缘

    这里的一切,开始的时候只为一位女生在寻找,生活里也在仅仅的生存在像是一个局里。一盘棋里,每一个都甘愿做一枚属于自己的棋子。 为了帮助失忆的她,有一个人动员了几乎可以动员的力量来为她寻找过去的她,无论是从前的现实还是寻找中的现实,他的付出也只为一个人。 人有无奈,也有天真。 关于他们的话题,这里世界可以给他们多少话,可以允许他们可以说多少话? 有时候,我们的所有很简单,简单的只是可以在字典里可以随便查寻的几个字。
  • 盛宠小蛮妃

    盛宠小蛮妃

    葬身火海,她从地狱归来——曾经的将门贵女,先帝亲封郡主,成了深宅中人人可欺的沈三小姐;为查家族被灭旧案,她步步为营,为复仇,她遇神杀神,魔挡屠魔;只是,这位王爷,你找你的王妃干嘛来惹我?情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 世界文化博览4

    世界文化博览4

    带你领略世界文化的博大精深,感受文化的力量和魅力,享受精神的盛宴,浓缩世界文化知识精粹。旨在为读者提高文化修养、丰富人生内涵、添加知识储备、准备写作素材、增加聚会谈资……
  • 点石成金的手指:重新发现世界的50个科学故事

    点石成金的手指:重新发现世界的50个科学故事

    为了让更多的青少年明友走进科学,了解我们究竟生话在一个怎样的世界,张佳音等用心编辑了《点石成金的手指(重新发现世界的50个科学故事)》这本书,精心挑选了50个科普小故事汇集成册,内容涵盖太空、地球、气象、动物、植物、科技、历史、人体奥秘等多个方面,既涉及青少年明友应该了解的最新科学领域和科技动态,又包含了一些在我们的日常生话中经常会遇到的问题,其中有法布尔的《昆虫记》这样广为流传的名篇佳作,也有一些鲜为人知的精彩篇目。每个故事之后,我们还附有一个问题,希望通过阅读和知识点链接的启发之后,每个读者都能给出一个更具有“科学性”的答案。
  • 醉乡日月

    醉乡日月

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 深圳经济特区年谱(1978~2018)(全集)

    深圳经济特区年谱(1978~2018)(全集)

    本书记录的是一座年轻而充满创造力的城市——深圳的不同寻常的令世人瞩目的成长历程。在中国历史上,恐怕还没有哪座城市能像她那样,以其自身的诞生预示着一个时代的开始和另一个时代的结束;也没有哪座城市能像她那样,以其自身的发展体现、引领着整个国家制度变迁的方向,并创造着一种崭新的富有绩效的社会发展模式;更没有哪座城市能像她那样,以其自身的不断变革书写着社会转型的奇迹,并在创造财富的同时创造着创新的观念、精神和理念。
  • 我家娘子猛于虎

    我家娘子猛于虎

    要问娘子哪家强,青溪巷东萧小娘!谢显用整个身体在拒绝:娘子请自重,本官并非心悦于你。萧宝信却分明听到风在吼马在啸,他的心里在咆哮:要亲亲,要抱抱,要举高高!这是一个盛世美颜,能听到别人心声的凶娘子和口嫌体直,欲拒还迎的病娇相公你退我进,你追我赶的故事!~~~每日保底双更,打赏10000点币及以上加更一章^-^欢迎妹子和汉子们踊跃入群哈,群号:5/6/7/5/5/9/4/6/0