Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
137
The Solitary Summer
·
Elizabeth Von Arnim
71
"Poor
things,"
I
said
one
day,
in
answer
to
an
outburst
of
indignation
from
him,
after
he
had
been
marrying
one
of
our
servants
at
the
eleventh
hour,
"I
am
so
sorry
for
them.
It
is
so
pitiful
that
they
should
always
have
to
be
scolded
on
their
wedding
day.
Such
children--so
ignorant,
so
uncontrolled,
so
frankly
animal--what
do
they
know
about
social
laws?
They
only
know
and
follow
nature,
and
I
would
from
my
heart
forgive
them
all."
"It
is
sin"
he
said
shortly.
"Then
the
forgiveness
is
sure."
"Not
if
they
do
not
seek
it."
I
was
silent,
for
I
wished
to
reply
that
I
believed
they
would
be
forgiven
in
spite
of
themselves,
that
probably
they
were
forgiven
whether
they
sought
it
or
not,
and
that
you
cannot
limit
things
divine;
but
who
can
argue
with
a
parson?
These
people
do
not
seek
forgiveness
because
it
never
enters
their
heads
that
they
need
it.
The
parson
tells
them
so,
it
is
true,
but
they
regard
him
as
a
person
bound
by
his
profession
to
say
that
sort
of
thing,
and
are
sharp
enough
to
see
that
the
consequences
of
their
sin,
foretold
by
him
with
such
awful
eloquence,
never
by
any
chance
come
off.
No
girl
is
left
to
languish
and
die
forsaken
by
her
betrayer,
for
the
betrayer
is
a
worthy
young
man
who
marries
her
as
soon
as
he
possibly
can;
no
finger
of
scorn
is
pointed
at
the
fallen
one,
for
all
the
fingers
in
the
street
are
attached
to
women
who
began
life
in
precisely
the
same
fashion;
and
as
for
that
problematical
Day
of
Judgment
of
which
they
hear
so
much
on
Sundays,
perhaps
they
feel
that
that
also
may
be
one
of
the
things
which
after
all
do
not
happen.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
