And Rotha was weak. She knew it. She let her eye run down the page a little further; and it came to these words-- "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee."... "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off."... Duty was plain enough. This luxury of anger at her aunt was a forbidden pleasure; it must be given up; and at the thought, Rotha clutched it the more warmly. So the bell rang for dinner, always early on Sunday. She would rather not have gone down, and did linger; then she heard it rung the second time and knew that was to summon the stragglers. She went down. The rest were at table. "Mamma," Antoinette was saying, "you must get a new bonnet." "Why?" "Mrs. Mac Jimpsey has got a new one, and it is handsomer than yours." "What does that signify?" was asked in Mr. Busby's curious husky tones and abrupt utterance. "O papa, you don't understand such things." "Nor you neither. You are a little goose." "Papa! don't you want mamma and me to be as nice as anybody?" "You are." "O but Mrs. Mac Jimpsey's bonnet was fifty times handsomer than mamma's. _You_ don't know, but it was." "Nevertheless, your mamma is fifty times handsomer than Mrs. Mac Jimpsey." "O papa! but _that_ isn't the thing." "And Mr. Mac Jimpsey's pocket is some fifty dollars or so emptier than mine. You see, we have a hundred times the advantage, to say the least." "Papa, gentlemen never understand such things." "Better for them if the ladies didn't." "My dear," said Mrs. Busby smoothly, "you do not consider dress a subject of small importance?" "I have no occasion to think about it, my dear, I am aware." "Why do you say that, Mr. Busby?" "It receives such exhaustive consideration from you." "It cannot be done without consideration; not properly. Good dressing is a distinction; and it requires a careful regard to circumstances, to keep up one's appearance properly." "What do you think about it, Rotha?" said Mr. Busby. Rotha was startled, and flushed all over. To answer was not easy; and yet answer she must. "I think it is comfortable to be well dressed," she said. "Well dressed! but there is the question. What do you mean by 'well dressed'? You see, Antoinette means by it simply, handsomer things than Mrs. Mac Jimpsey." Antoinette pouted, much incensed at this speech and at the appeal to Rotha generally; and Mrs. Busby brought her lips into firmer compression; though neither spoke. Mr. Busby went on, rather kindly. "What's the matter, that you didn't go to church to-day? Is Antoinette's bonnet handsomer than yours?" "It ought to be, Mr. Busby," said the lady of the house here. "Ought it? Rotha might put in a demurrer. May I ask why?" "Circumstances are different, Mr. Busby. That is what I said. Proper dressing must keep a due regard to circumstances."