212520_The_Adve ... _Way_Through_The_World.pdf - OUDL Home

572 THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP
peevishly ; " of course, Mrs. Philip thinks whatever her husband
tells her !"
" In his own time of trial Philip has been met with wonderful
succour and kindness," Laura urged. "See how one thing after
another has contributed to help him! When he wanted, there
were friends always at his need. If he wants again, I am sure my
husband and I will share with him." (I may have made a wry
face at this ; for with the best feelings towards a man, and that
kind of thing, you know it is not always convenient to be lending
him five or six hundred pounds without security.) "My dear
husband and I will share with him," goes on Mrs. Laura ; " won't
we, Arthur? Yes, Brandon, that we will. Be sure, Charlotte and
the children shall not want because Philip covers his father's wrong,
and hides it from the world ! God bless you, dear friend !" and
what does this woman do next, and before her husband's face?
Actually she goes up to Philip ; she takes his hand—and _________ Weil,
what took place before my own eyes, I do not choose to write down.
"She's encouraging him to ruin the children for the sake of
that—that wicked old brute !" cries Mrs. Brandon. " It's enough
to provoke a saint, it is !" And she seizes up her bonnet from the
table, and claps it on her head, and walks out of the room in a
little tempest of wrath.
My wife, clasping her hands, whispers a few words, which say :
"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them who trespass
against us."
"Yes," says Philip, very much moved. "It is the Divine
order. You are right, dear Laura. I have had a weary time;
and a terrible gloom of doubt and sadness over my mind whilst I
have been debating this matter, and before I had determined to do
as you would have me. But a great weight is off my heart since
I have been enabled to see what my conduct should be. What
hundreds of struggling men as well as myself have met with losses,
and faced them ! I will pay this bill, and I will warn the drawer
to—to spare me for the future."
Now that the Little Sister had gone away in her fit of indignation,
you see I was left in a minority in the council of war, and
the opposition was quite too strong for me. I began to be of the
majority's opinion. I daresay I am not the only gentleman who
has been led round by a woman. We men of great strength of
mind very frequently are. Yes: my wife convinced me with
passages from her text-book, admitting of no contradiction according
to her judgment, that Philip's duty was to forgive his father.
"And how lucky it was we did not buy the chintzes that day!"
says Laura, with a laugh. " Do you know there were two which