_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ Agapete. But I never pretended to this sort of
spiritualism. I followed the advice of Saint Paul, who says it is better
to marry.

_Mrs. Opimian._ You need not finish the quotation.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ Agapete is often translated 'adoptive sister.'
A very possible relation, I think, where there are vows of celibacy, and
inward spiritual grace.

_Mrs. Opimian._ Very possible, indeed: and equally possible where there
are none.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ But more possible where there are seven adoptive
sisters, than where there is only one.

_Mrs. Opimian._ Perhaps.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ The manners, my dear, of these damsels towards
their young master are infallible indications of the relations between
them. Their respectful deference to him is a symptom in which I cannot
be mistaken.

_Mrs. Opimian._ I hope you are not.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ I am sure I am not. I would stake all my credit
for observation and experience on the purity of the seven Vestals. I
am not strictly accurate in calling them so: for in Rome the number
of Vestals was only six. But there were seven Pleiads, till one
disappeared. We may fancy she became a seventh Vestal. Or as the planets
used to be seven, and are now more than fifty, we may pass a seventh
Vestal in the name of modern progress.

_Mrs. Opimian._ There used to be seven deadly sins. How many has modern
progress added to them?

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ None, I hope, my dear. But this will be due,
not to its own tendencies, but to the comprehensiveness of the old
definitions.

_Mrs. Opimian._ I think I have heard something like your Greek word
before.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ Agapemone, my dear. You may have heard the word
Agapemone.

_Mrs. Opimian._ That is it. And what may it signify?

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ It signifies Abode of Love: spiritual love of
course.

_Mrs. Opimian._ Spiritual love, which rides in carriages and four,
fares sumptuously, like Dives, and protects itself with a high wall from
profane observation.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ Well, my dear, and there may be no harm in all
that.

_Mrs. Opimian._ Doctor, you are determined not to see harm in anything.

_The Rev. Dr. Opimian._ I am afraid I see more harm in many things than
I like to see. But one reason for not seeing harm in this Agapemona
matter is, that I hear so little about it The world is ready enough to
promulgate scandal; but that which is quietly right ma