These two had really a great deal in common besides their faith.
It is true that Mrs. Stapleton was forty, and her friend but thirty-one; but the former did all that was possible to compensate for this by adroit toilette tactics. Both, too, were accustomed to dress in soft materials, with long chains bearing various emblems; they did their hair in the same way; they cultivated the same kinds of tones in their voices—a purring, mewing manner—suggestive of intuitive kittens. Both alike had a passion for proselytism.
But after that the differences began. There was a deal more in Mrs. Stapleton besides the kittenish qualities.
- She was perfectly capable of delivering a speech in public;
- she had written some really well-expressed articles in various Higher periodicals;
- and she had a willpower beyond the ordinary.
At the point where Lady Laura began to deprecate and soothe, Mrs. Stapleton began to clear decks for action, so to speak, to be incisive, to be fervent, even to be rather eloquent.
She kept “dear Tom,” the Colonel, not crushed or beaten, for that was beyond the power of man to do, but at least silently acquiescent in her program: he allowed her even to entertain her prophetical friends at his expense, now and then; and, even when among men, refrained from too bitter speech.
It was said by the Colonel’s friends that Mrs. Colonel had a tongue of her own. Certainly, she ruled her house well and did her duty; and it was only because of her husband’s absence in Scotland that during this time she was permitting herself the refreshment of a week or two among the illuminated.