"Ah! but we do know; and, if our silence and civility have no effect, we ought to try something else, and not encourage wickedness of any kind. We needn't scold and preach, but we _can_ refuse to know such people; and that will do some good, for they don't like to be shunned and shut out from respectable society. Uncle Alec told me not to know that man, and I won't." Rose spoke with unusual warmth, forgetting that she could not tell the real reason for her strong prejudice against "that man."
"Well, _I_ know him: _I_ think him very jolly, and I'm engaged to dance the German with him after supper. He leads quite as well as your cousin Charlie, and is quite as fascinating, some people think," returned Emma, tossing her head disdainfully; for Prince Charming did not worship at her shrine, and it piqued her vanity.
In spite of her quandary, Rose could not help smiling as she recalled Mac's comparison; for Emma turned so red with spiteful chagrin, she seemed to have added strawberry-ice to the other varieties composing the Harlequin.
"Each must judge for herself. I shall follow Aunt Jessie's advice, and try to keep my atmosphere as pure as I can; for she says every woman has her own little circle, and in it can use her influence for good, if she will. I do will heartily; and I'll prove that I'm neither proud nor fussy by receiving, here or at home, any respectable man you like to present to me, no matter how poor or plain or insignificant he may be."
With which declaration Rose ended her protest, and the four damsels streamed downstairs together like a wandering rainbow. But Kitty laid to heart what she had said; Annabel took credit to herself for siding with her; and Emma owned that _she_ was not trying to keep her atmosphere pure when she came to dance with the objectionable Randal. So Rose's "little circle" was the better for the influence she tried to exert, although she never knew it.
All supper-time, Charlie kept near her, and she was quite content with him; for he drank only coffee, and she saw him shake his head with a frown when young Van beckoned him toward an anteroom, from whence the sound of popping corks had issued with increasing frequency as the evening wore on.