Are not there Heathen Idols enshrined among us still?
Does not the world worship them, and persecute those who refuse to kneel?
Do not many timid souls sacrifice to them; and other bolder spirits rebel
and, with rage at their hearts, bend down their stubborn knees at their
altars? See! I began by siding with Mrs. Grundy and the world, and at the
next turn of the see-saw have lighted down on Ethel's side, and am
disposed to think that the very best part of her conduct has been those
escapades which--which right-minded persons most justly condemn. At
least, that a young beauty should torture a man with alternate liking and
indifference; allure, dismiss, and call him back out of banishment;
practise arts to please upon him, and ignore them when rebuked for her
coquetry--these are surely occurrences so common in young women's history
as to call for no special censure; and if on these charges Miss Newcome
is guilty, is she, of all her sex, alone in her criminality?
So Ethel and her duenna went away upon their tour of visits to mansions
so splendid, and among hosts and guests so polite, that the present
modest historian does not dare to follow them.
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