WHENEVER Mr. Meadows could do Mr. Levi an ill turn he did; and vice
versa. They hated one another like men who differ about baptism. Susan
sprinkled dewdrops of charity on each in turn.
Levi listened to her with infinite pleasure. “Your voice,” said he, “is
low and melodious like the voice of my own people in the East.” And then
she secretly quoted the New Testament to him, having first ascertained
that he had never read it; and he wondered where on earth this simple
girl had picked up so deep a wisdom and so lofty and self-denying a
morality.
Meadows listened to her with respect from another cause; but the
ill offices that kept passing between the two men counteracted her
transitory influence and fed fat the ancient grudge.