Do you remember,darling,that first morning of my arrival at your house,when your father read at prayers the miracle of healing the sick of the palsy--where he is told to take up his bed and walk?I do,and I can now so well realize the force of that passage.The smallest piece of mat is the bed of the Oriental,and yesterday I saw a native perform the very action,which reminded me to mention it.But you are better read than I,and perhaps you knew all this long ago.One day I bought some small native idols to send home to you as curiosities,but afterwards finding they had been cast in England,made to look old,and shipped over,I threw them away in disgust.
Speaking of this reminds me that we are obliged to import all our house-building ironwork from England.Never was such foresight required to be exercised in building houses as here.Before we begin,we have to order every column,lock,hinge,and screw that will be required.We cannot go into the next street,as in London,and get them cast at a minutes notice.Mr.L.says somebody will have to go to England very soon and superintend the selection of a large order of this kind.I only wish I may be the man.
There before her lay the deposit-receipt for the two hundred pounds,and beside it the elegant present of Knight.Elfride grew cold--then her cheeks felt heated by beating blood.If by destroying the piece of paper the whole transaction could have been withdrawn from her experience,she would willingly have sacrificed the money it represented.She did not know what to do in either case.She almost feared to let the two articles lie in juxtaposition:so antagonistic were the interests they represented that a miraculous repulsion of one by the other was almost to be expected.