"O no! —" I said. "I liked them very much — I enjoyed them
very much. I am sorry to stay away."
"Then you will not stay away very long."
"Yes — I shall."
"Why?" — he asked again, with a little sort of imperative
curiosity which was somehow very pleasant to me.
"I do not think it is right for me to go," I said. Then,
seeing grave astonishment and great mystification in his face,
I added, "I am a Christian, Mr. Thorold."
"A Christian!" he cried, with flashes of light and shadow
crossing his brow. "Is _that_ it?"
"That is it," I assented.
"But, my dear Miss Randolph — you know we are friends?"
"Yes," I said, smiling, and glad that he had not forgotten it.
"Then we may talk about what we like. Christians go to hops."
I looked at him without answering.
"Don't you know they do?"
"I suppose they may," — I answered slowly.
"But they _do_. There was our former colonel's wife — Mrs. Holt;
she was a regular church-goer, and a member of the church; she
was always at the hop, and her sister; they are both church
members.
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