characters!"

"Go on, Lark."

"Well, her folks are atheists, and she's an atheist, too. You know
what an atheist is, don't you? You know, Prue, Mount Mark is a very
religious town, on account of the Presbyterian College, and all, and it
seems the Simpsons are the only atheists here. Hattie says people look
down on her terribly because of it. She says the church folks consider
them, the Simpsons, that is, the dust on their shoes, and the crumbs
off the rich man's table. She got that terribly mixed up, but I didn't
correct her."

"I think she did very well for an atheist," said Carol, determined not
to be totally overlooked in this discussion.

"What has all this to do with Miss Allen?"

"Well, one day Hattie was walking home from school with us, and she was
telling us about it,--the dust on their shoes, etc.,--and she said she
liked Miss Allen better than anybody else in town. I asked why. She
said Miss Allen believed the same things the Simpsons believe, only
Miss Allen daren't say so publicly, or they would put her out of the
school. She said Miss Allen said that most church members were
hypocrites and drunkards and--and just generally bad, and the ones
outside the church are nearly always good and moral and kind. She said
Miss Allen joined the Presbyterian church here because most of the
school board are Presbyterians. She said Miss Allen said she didn't
care if people were Catholics or Jews or atheists or--or just ordinary
Protestants, so long as they were kind to one another, and went about