Thy people shall be mine,

Whom thou dost love I also love,

My will is one with thine.

As thou didst die, so will I die,

And also buried be,

For even death may never part

My love-bound heart from thee.

(Ruth 1:16-17)

Chapter 15 Pride and Superiority

CHAPTER 15
Pride and Superiority

Pride had limped ever since that eventful day when he tried to overpower Much-Afraid on her way to the High Places and the Shepherd had come to her defense and had hurled him over the cliffs into the sea. Yes, he still limped, and his handsome face was very much scarred, and this was a very sore blow to him, for he had always been one of the handsomest and strongest men in the valley. Doubtless it was the fact that he could no longer arrogantly flirt with all the pretty girls which had at last decided him to marry and settle down.

He chose for his wife a relative of his, a wealthy young woman called Superiority, who had been waiting hopefully for several years for this event. She was by no means a beauty, but she was an heiress, and Pride had extravagant tastes far beyond the allowance which his father gave him. His wife brought him a fortune derived from investments in a company which had vast mining operations somewhere in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. The mines were said to produce fabulous wealth, and the parents of Pride, Sir Arrogant and Lady Haughty, both drew their income from the same source.

Strange as it may seem, the one special friend of Superiority’s girlhood had been Much-Afraid, the crippled, miserable orphan brought up in the home of Mrs. Dismal Forebodings.

Much-Afraid and her three cousins, Gloomy, Spiteful, and Craven Fear, had all been Superiority’s companions at school. She had disliked the three Forebodings very much indeed, being jealous of Gloomy’s striking good looks and of Spiteful’s cleverness, and she had detested the bullying Craven. Perhaps it was the fact that they all three gave her a strong feeling of inferiority, whereas championing the trembling, ill-used Much-Afraid gave her the soothing and comfortable sense of superiority her nature required, which was the real basis for this strange friendship. Much-Afraid was not only ugly and crippled, but she was also stupid at her lessons, and Superiority had no need to fear being surpassed by her in any way. The other girls and boys in general disliked Superiority, for she had far more pocket money than anyone else, and prettier clothes, and was known to be an heiress. Therefore Much-Afraid’s grateful and adoring homage had been balm and incense to her self-esteem and had kept her from feeling friendless.