"Only from Putney's talk," said the doctor.
"He didn't merely disapprove of the dance and supper, but he had some very
peculiar notions about the relations of the different classes in general,"
said Annie; and this was the point she had meant circuitously to lead up
to when she began to speak of South Hatboro', though she theoretically
despised all sorts of feminine indirectness.
"Yes?" said the doctor. "What notions?"
"Well, he thinks that if you have money, you _can't_ do good with it."
"That's rather odd," said Dr. Morrell.
"I don't state it quite fairly. He meant that you can't make any kindness
with it between yourself and the--the poor."
"That's odd too."
"Yes," said Annie anxiously. "You can impose an obligation, he says, but
you can't create sympathy. Of course Ralph exaggerates what I said about
him in connection with the invited dance and supper, though I don't justify
what I did say; and if I'd known then, as I do now, what his history had
been, I should have been more careful in my talk with him. I should be very
sorry to have hurt his feelings, and I suppose people who've come up in
that way are sensitive?"
She suggested this, and it was not the reassurance she was seeking to have
Dr. Morrell say, "Naturally."
She continued with an effort: "I'm afraid I didn't respect his sincerity,
and I ought to have done that, though I don't at all agree with him on the
other points. It seems to me that what he said was shocking, and
perfectly--impossible."
"Why, what was it?" asked the doctor.
"He said there could be no real kindness between the rich and poor, because
all their experiences of life were different. It amounted to saying that
there ought not to _be_ any wealth. Don't you think so?"
"Really, I've never thought about it," returned Dr. Morrell. After a moment
he asked, "Isn't it rather an abstraction?"
"Don't say that!" said Annie nervously. "It's the _most_ concrete
thing in the world!"
The doctor laughed with enjoyment of her convulsive emphasis; but she went
on: "I don't think life's worth living if you're to be shut up all your
days to the intelligence merely of your own class."
"Who said you were?"
"Mr. Peck."
"And what was your inference from the fact? That there oughtn't to be any
classes?"