Page:The Redemption of Anthony (1911).djvu/43

 "How do you do?" said Drake to Mrs. Martin, who stood smilingly by, watching the encounter. He bowed to the rest, and his eye hovered a moment about Priscilla, who blushed furiously.

"No doubt the sermon is needed," he replied to Mrs. Crompton's fling. "What's the text?"

"Laugh not—that ye be not laughed at!" said Peter.

The Parson took him up. "That does very well—there is obvious need of a protest. We laugh at eveythingeverything [sic]—political juggling, moral intriguing, business dishonesty, they all amuse us—as part of a game. It is the crying evil of our day—to shrug the shoulders and to laugh."

"That's the text of my next book, Parson," Drake said. "Mrs. Martin really suggested it in something she said once, about how we moderns shift responsibilities—from personal to national ones—"

"Louise ought to make a good agitator