Page:Keeping the Peace.pdf/46

 difference between right and wrong, give him a fair chance in life and let him stand on his own feet," Mrs. Eaton would say, "and you may feel that you have done your duty by him—your whole duty."

It was a principle with her. She would not have left her boys well off if she had been able to. They might have been tempted to lead idle lives of enjoyment.

Mrs. Eaton knew perfectly well just who was going to Heaven when they died and just who wasn't. It seemed sometimes as if the Lord God had made her His special deputy on earth to keep a precise watch upon her neighbors' chances and prospects.

That family of Ruggleses, for instance, who lived in the outskirts of New Rochelle, would find the going very different after their deaths. Unless for a wedding or a funeral, they were never known to step inside a church, and Mr. Ruggles was said to believe only that man was descended from an ape.

Once at dancing school the master caused Edward to waltz drunkenly with the Ruggles girl. She was named Alice and wore a velvet dress which was delicious to touch. She had slim black legs and tiny patent leather pumps with silver buckles. It was Edward who made her dancing