Forthwith Mary Taylor received an intimation from her brother that vast interests depended on her summer vacation.
Thus it had happened that Miss Taylor came to Lake George for her vacation after the first year at the Smith School, and she and Miss Smith had silently agreed as she left that it would be better for her not to return.
But the gods of lower Broadway thought otherwise. Not that Mary Taylor did not believe in Miss Smith’s work, she was too honest not to believe in education; but she was sure that this was not her work, and she had not as yet perfected in her own mind any theory of the world into which black folk fitted.
She was rather taken back, therefore, to be regarded as an expert on the problem. First her brother attacked her, not simply on cotton, but, to her great surprise, on Negro education; and after listening to her halting uncertain remarks, he suggested to her certain matters which it would be better for her to believe when Mrs. ¬ÝGrey talked to her.
“Interested in darkies, you see,” he concluded, “and looks to you to tell things. Better go easy and suggest a waiting-game before she goes in heavy.”
‚ÄúBut Miss Smith needs money‚ÅÝ‚Äî‚Äù the New England conscience prompted. John Taylor cut in sharply:
‚ÄúWe all need money, and I know people who need Mrs. ¬ÝGrey‚Äôs more than Miss Smith does at present.‚Äù
Miss Taylor found the Lake George colony charming. It was not ultra-fashionable, but it had wealth and leisure and some breeding.
Especially was this true of a circumscribed, rather exclusive, set which centred around the Vanderpools of New York and Boston. They, or rather Mr. ¬ÝVanderpool‚Äôs connections, were of Old Dutch New York stock; his father it was who had built the Lake George cottage.