Page:The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (emended first edition), Volume 3.djvu/66

56 he tells me to do—he always says, 'Mamma be damned,'—and Rachel says it's only wicked people that are damned. So mamma, that's why I think you must be wicked—and I wish you wouldn't."

"My dear child, I am not. Those are bad words, and wicked people often say them of others better than themselves. Those words cannot make people be damned, nor show that they deserve it. God will judge us by our own thoughts and deeds, not by what others say about us. And when you hear such words spoken, Arthur, remember never to repeat them: it is wicked to say such things of others, not to have them said against you."

"Then it's papa that's wicked," said he, ruefully.

"Papa is wrong to say such things, and you will be very wrong to imitate him, now that you know better."

"What is imitate?"

"To do as he does."