"Yes," said Lapham huskily, and his wife began to wipe
the tears again under her veil.
Sewell remained silent, and they waited till he should speak.
"We can be of use to one another here, because we can always
be wiser for some one else than we can for ourselves.
We can see another's sins and errors in a more merciful
light--and that is always a fairer light--than we can our own;
and we can look more sanely at others' afflictions."
He had addressed these words to Lapham; now he turned
to his wife. "If some one had come to you, Mrs. Lapham,
in just this perplexity, what would you have thought?"
"I don't know as I understand you," faltered Mrs. Lapham.
Sewell repeated his words, and added, "I mean, what do
you think some one else ought to do in your place?"
"Was there ever any poor creatures in such a strait before?"
she asked, with pathetic incredulity.
"There's no new trouble under the sun," said the minister.
"Oh, if it was any one else, I should say--I should say--Why,
of course! I should say that their duty was to let----"
She paused.
"One suffer instead of three, if none is to blame?"
suggested Sewell. "That's sense, and that's justice.
It's the economy of pain which naturally suggests itself,
and which would insist upon itself, if we were not
all perverted by traditions which are the figment of
the shallowest sentimentality.
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