The Rebel's Return Read Online Free Page B

situation?”
    Phoebe stepped through the door of the cluttered bedroom with the two beds and the profusion of boxes and chests littering the floor. Her friend was curled up on the bed next to Tom Kirby’s sweetheart, Betsy Snow. Betsy wore a troubled expression that didn’t completely disappear as the two girls looked up and saw Phoebe.
    “I suppose it is different for me, because my parents aren’t as religious as yours,” Rhoda said, speaking as freely in front of Phoebe as she normally did. “We go to church most Sundays, but my parents wouldn’t care much which church I belong to. They wouldn’t be bothered if I married someone from a different church.”  She patted the red and blue nine-patch quilt beside her in a gesture of invitation to Phoebe. “What about you, Phoebe? Would your mother object if you didn’t marry someone from the Methodist society?”
    Phoebe perched on the edge of the bed with the two friends, pondering the question. “I’ve never actually asked her. And I’ve never had anyone want to court me yet. Of course, my mother didn’t object when Tom wanted to court Alice—” She broke off with a glance at Betsy, but Tom Kirby’s new love interest seemed engrossed by her own distress and ignored the reference to Alice.
    “Your parents don’t care so much about religion, but they do care about politics,” Betsy pointed out to Rhoda. “Just imagine if you wanted to marry a Loyalist. Wouldn’t your father object to that? I’m sure he would.”
    “ I would object to marrying a Tory myself,” Rhoda laughed. “My father wouldn’t need to say anything against it. But if I met someone I really cared for, and my parents objected to him, I’d find a way somehow, you can be sure of that. I wouldn’t take no for an answer. And I really believe, if I were sure of my own mind and my parents saw that I knew what I wanted, they would agree in the end.”
    Betsy stretched out full length on the bed and rested her pale, pretty face in her hands. “I’ve always believed I should obey my parents in everything that isn’t directly a matter of conscience. That’s what I’ve always been taught. You don’t agree with that?”
    Rhoda leaned on her elbow, pulling her yellow petticoat down to cover her ankles. “Couldn’t you say that marrying Tom is a matter of conscience?”
    Betsy still frowned in spite of her friend’s attempt at humor. “I don’t see it that way. There’s nothing in the Bible that says what person I should marry. So if my parents tell me not to marry him, shouldn’t I take that as an answer from God? That my first duty is to obey my parents?” She glanced up at Phoebe as if searching for agreement. “Don’t you think so, Phoebe?”
    Phoebe opened her mouth to speak. It was a question she had wrestled with as well, although she had never yet needed to make such a choice.
    “Don’t ask Phoebe’s opinion.” Rhoda bounced on the straw mattress, tossing her head impatiently. “She would never do anything to upset her mother. Even if it were a matter of conscience, as you say.”
    Phoebe turned to her friend with an expression of surprise, bordering on indignation. “Why should you say something like that?”
    Rhoda shrugged. “Don’t be angry, but ’tis the truth. You’re so worried about displeasing her. I can’t imagine you defying her in anything.”
    “I think Phoebe is like me,” Betsy said. “We aren’t rebellious at heart. We both want to please our parents. You, Rhoda, you are much more independent.”
    “Nay.” Rhoda shook her head. “Phoebe is different from you, Betsy. You obey your parents because you believe it is the right thing to do, because you believe God has told you to. Phoebe obeys her parents because their approval is important to her and she is afraid to lose it.”
    Phoebe turned to stare at Rhoda in surprise. She had never heard Rhoda express this opinion so plainly before, although perhaps she should have guessed. She knew her