Sunny Slopes | Page 8

with her. She was not used to the type. There had
been women in her father's churches, but they had been of different
kinds. Mrs. Waldemar's straight-staring eyes embarrassed her. She
listened silently when the other women talked of her, half admiringly,
half sneeringly, and she grew more timid. She watched her fascinated
in church, on the street, whenever they were thrown together. But one
deep look from the dark eyes set her a-flush and rendered her
tongue-tied.
Mrs. Waldemar had paid scant attention to David before the advent of

Carol, except to follow his movements with her eyes in a way of which
he could not remain unconscious. But when Carol came, entered the
demon of mischief. Carol was young, Mrs. Waldemar was forty. Carol
was lovely, Mrs. Waldemar was only unusual. Carol was frank as the
sunshine, Mrs. Waldemar was mysterious. What woman on earth but
might wonder if the devoted groom were immune to luring eyes, and if
that lovely bride were jealous?
So she talked to him after church. She called him on the telephone for
directions in the Bible study she was taking up. She lounged in her
hammock as he returned home from pastoral calls, and stopped him for
little chats. David was her pastor, she was one of his flock.
But Carol screwed up her face before the mirror and frowned.
"David," she said to herself, when a glance from her window revealed
David leaning over Mrs. Waldemar's hammock half a block away,
doubtless in the scriptural act of explaining an intricate passage of
Revelation to the dark-eyed sheep,--"David is as good as an angel, and
as innocent as a baby. Two very good traits of course, but dangerous,
tre-men-dous-ly dangerous. Goodness and innocence make men wax in
women's hands." Carol, for all her youth, had acquired considerable
shrewdness in her life-time acquaintance with the intricacies of
parsonage life.
She looked from her window again. "There's the--the--the dark-eyed
Jezebel." She glanced fearfully about, to see if David might be near
enough to hear the word. What on earth would he think of the manse
lady calling one of his sheep a Jezebel? "Well, David," she said to
herself decidedly, "God gave you a wife for some purpose, and I'm
slick if I haven't much brains." And she shook a slender fist at her
image in the mirror and went back to setting the table.
David was talkative that evening. "You haven't seen much of Mrs.
Waldemar, have you, dear? People here don't think much Of her. She is
very advanced,--too advanced, of course. But she is very broad, and
kind. She is well educated, too, and for one who has had no training,
she grasps Bible truths in a most remarkable way. She has never had

the proper guidance, that's the worst of it. With a little wise direction
she will be a great addition to our church and a big help in many ways."
Carol lowered her lashes reflectively. She was wondering how much of
this "wise direction" was going to fall to her precious David?
"I imagine our women are a little jealous of her, and that blinds them to
her many fine qualities."
Carol agreed, with a certain lack of enthusiasm, and David continued
with evident relish.
"Some of her ideas are dangerous, but when she is shown the weakness
of her position she will change. She is not one of that narrow school
who holds to a fallacy just because she accepted it in the beginning.
The elders objected to her teaching a class in Sunday-school because
they claimed her opinions would prove menacing to the young and
uninformed. And it is true. She is dangerous company for the young
right now. But she is starting out along better lines and I think will be a
different woman."
"Dangerous for the young." The words repeated themselves in Carol's
mind. "Dangerous for the young." Carol was young herself.
"Dangerous for the young."
The next afternoon, Carol arrayed herself in her most girlishly
charming gown, and with a smile on her lips, and trepidation in her
heart, she marched off to call on her Jezebel. The Jezebel was surprised,
no doubt of that. And she was pleased. Every one liked Carol,--even
Jezebels. And Mrs. Waldemar was very much alone. However much a
woman may revel in the admiration of men, there are times when she
craves the confidence of at least one woman. Mrs. Waldemar led Carol
up-stairs to a most seductively attractive little sitting-room, and Carol
sat at her feet, as it were, for two full hours.
Then she tripped away home, more than ever aware of the wonderful
charm of Mrs. Waldemar, but thanking God she was young.

When David came in to dinner, a radiant Carol awaited him. In the
ruffly