"You'll have to come to our church, Annie," said Mrs. Putney. "The
Unitarian doesn't have preaching once in a month, and Mr. Peck is very
liberal."

"He's 'most _too_ liberal for some," said Emmeline Gerrish. Of the
three she had grown the stoutest, and from being a slight, light-minded
girl, she had become a heavy matron, habitually censorious in her speech.
She did not mean any more by it, however, than she did by her girlish
frivolity, and if she was not supported in her severity, she was apt to
break down and disown it with a giggle, as she now did.

"Well, I don't know about his being _too_ liberal," said Mrs.
Wilmington, a large red-haired blonde, with a lazy laugh. "He makes you
feel that you're a pretty miserable sinner." She made a grimace of humorous
disgust.

"Mr. Gerrish says that's just the trouble," Mrs. Gerrish broke in. "Mr.
Peck don't put stress enough on the promises. That's what Mr. Gerrish says.
You must have been surprised, Annie," she added, "to find that he'd been
staying in your house."

"I was glad Mrs. Bolton invited him," answered Annie sincerely, but not
instantly.

The ladies waited, with an exchange of glances, for her reply, as if they
had talked the matter over beforehand, and had agreed to find out just how
Annie Kilburn felt about it.

"Oh, I guess he paid his board," said Mrs. Wilmington, jocosely rejecting
the implication that he had been the guest of the Boltons.