But when they got to the meetin’ and he see Polly settin’ like a lily amongst flowers, and read in her lovely face the earnest desire to lift the burden from the heavy laden, comfort the sorrowful, right the wrong, and do what she could in her day and generation—
I spoze his eyes could only see her sweet face. But he couldn’t help his ears from hearin’ the reasonable, eloquent words of earnest and womanly wimmen, so full of good sense and truth and justice that no reasonable person could dispute ’em, and when he contrasted all this with the sneerin’ face, the sarcastic egotistic prattle of Maud, the veil dropped from his eyes, and he see with the New Vision.
You know how it wuz with Saul the Scoffer who went breathin’ out vengeance, and Eternal Right stopped him on his way with its great light. Well, I spoze it wuz a bright ray from that same light that shone down into Royal’s heart and made him see. He wuz always good hearted and generous—men have always been better than the laws they have made. He left Maud at her home not fur away and hastened back, way-laid Polly, and bore her home in triumph and a thirty-horse-power car.
It don’t make much difference I spoze how or where anybody is converted. The Bible speaks of some bein’ ketched out of the fire, and I spoze it is about the same if they are ketched out of the rain. ’Tennyrate the same rain that washed some of the color off Maud’s cheeks, seemed to wash away the blindin’ mist of prejudice and antagonism from Royal’s mental vision, leavin’ his sperit ready for the great white light of truth and justice to strike in. And that very day and hour he come round to Polly’s way of thinkin’, and bein’ smart as a whip and so rich, I suppose he will be a great accusation to the cause.
Well, the next day but one the Allens met in a pleasant grove on the river shore and we had a good growin’ time. Royal bein’ as you may say one of the family, took us all to the grove in his big tourin’ car, and the fourth trip he took Polly alone, and wuzn’t it queer that, though the load wuz fur lighter, it took him three times as long as the other three trips together? Why, they never got there till dinner wuz on the table, and then they didn’t seem to care a mite about the extra good food.