“At the party to-morrow night?”

“Yes.”

Mr. Arlington shook his head, as he replied—­

“Don’t think of such a thing.  We will receive him with true kindness, because we feel it towards the good old man.  But we must not cease to do what we know to be right, thus disappointing and marring the pleasure of many, out of deference to a mere prejudice of education in a single person.  When we go to see him, we do not expect that any change will be made out of deference to our prejudices or peculiar opinions; and when he comes to see us, he must be willing to tolerate what takes place in our family, even if it does not meet his full approval.  No, no; let us not think for a moment of any change in affairs on this account.  Uncle Archer hasn’t been present at a gay party nor seen dancing for almost half a century.  It may do him good to witness it now.  At any rate, I feel curious to see the experiment tried.”

Mrs. Arlington still argued for a little yielding in favour of the good parson’s prejudices, but her husband would not listen to such a thing for a moment.  Every thing, he said, must go on as usual.

“A guest who comes into a family,” he remarked, “should always conform himself to the family order; then there is no reaction upon him, and all are comfortable and happy.  He is not felt as a thing foreign and incongruous, but as homogeneous.  To break up the usual order, and to bend all to meet his personal prejudices and peculiarities, is only to so disturb the family sphere as to make it actually repellent.  He is then felt as an unassimilated foreign body, and all secretly desire his removal.”

“But something is due to old age!” urged Mrs. Arlington.

“Yes; much.  But, if age have not softened a man’s prejudices against a good thing in itself, I doubt very much if a deference to his prejudice, such as you propose, will in the least benefit him.  Better let him come in contact with a happy circle, exhilarated by music and dancing; and the chances are, that his heart will melt in the scene rather than grow colder and harder.  The fact is, as I think of it more and more, the better pleased am I that Uncle Archer is coming just at this time.”

But Mrs. Arlington felt troubled about the matter.  Early on Christmas morning, the old gentleman arrived, and was welcomed with sincere affection by every member of the family.  Mr. and Mrs. Arlington had a daughter, named Grace, who was just entering her eighteenth year.  She was gentle and affectionate in disposition, and drew to the side of Uncle Archer in a way that touched the old man’s feelings.  He had not seen her before this, since she was a little girl; and now, he could not keep his eyes off of her as she sat by him, or moved about the room in his presence.

“What a dear girl that is!” was his remark to her mother, many times through the day.

“She’s a good girl,” would simply reply Mrs. Arlington, speaking almost without thought.  Grace was a good girl; her mother felt this, and from her heart her lips found utterance.