[The Emancipated by George Gissing]@TWC D-Link bookThe Emancipated CHAPTER XIII 10/33
Her pride silenced every other voice. Religious hypocrisy is in our day a very rare thing; so little is to be gained by it.
To be sure, the vast majority of English people are constantly guilty of hypocritical practices, but that, as a rule, is mere testimony to the rootedness of their orthodox faith.
Mr.Elgar. shutting himself up between breakfast and chapel to write business letters--which he pre- or post-dated--was ignoble enough, but not therefore a hypocrite.
Had a fatal accident happened to one of his family whilst he was thus employed, he would not have succeeded in persuading his conscience that the sin and the calamity were unconnected.
His wife had never admitted a doubt of its being required by the immutable law of God that she should be sad and severe on Sunday, that Reuben should be sternly punished for whistling on that day, that little Miriam should be rewarded when she went through the long services with unnatural stillness and demureness.
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