“Then perhaps he hasn’t said it quite in the same way.”

When the evening arrived Mavis asked if she might come to the chapel, but he said “No.”  Her presence would distract his thoughts.

“Very well, dear, I’ll stay here.  I shall say a prayer for you.  I may do that?”

“Yes, please do that.”

Throughout the ceremony, and afterward, he was very grave and dignified, plainly taking the whole matter with the most profound seriousness.  He was silent and solemn throughout the rest of the evening; but he slept extraordinarily well at night.  There were no dreams, no disturbances of any kind.  He lay motionless, sleeping as peacefully as a little child.

Tender thoughts filled the mind of his wife as she watched him.  She thought of the ugly chapel, those stupid illiterate people, the dark water, the splashing and the noise; the clumsy absurdness of the whole rite; and yet, in spite of everything, she now felt the essential beauty of the idea itself.  It seemed to her most beautiful when applied to this particular case—­the strong brave man who in spirit and heart has made himself simple and guileless as a child, to be taken back to the Eternal Father of all children.

XXI

Outwardly his religion sat lightly on him, but inwardly it was solid and real.  He took to reading aloud one chapter of the Gospel every night, and soon made a habit of adding a brief extempore prayer for the benefit of Mary, Norah Veale, and Mrs. Goudie, who regularly came from the kitchen to hear him.  His reading and praying formed, of course, a marked innovation; but beyond it there were very few perceptible changes that could be traced to the fresh phase of mind into which he had now entered.  And these few changes were traced or perceived by only one person, his wife.

Mavis saw with satisfaction that the gentlefolk did not seemed to be huffed.  Orders came in from several of those old-fashioned people who had hitherto held aloof, but who perhaps were at present generous enough to think that if you don’t go to church, the next best thing is to go to chapel.  The Baptists were not therefore standing in his way:  they had caused no check to his success.

He bought all the corn and hay which the neighboring farms could spare to sell, so that what others had grown and cut for miles round was carted straight into his rick-yard.  During the hay harvest he appeared especially grand, riding about the fields on his horse, grave and watchful, really like a prince with vassals hard at work for him as far as the eye could see.  On the last day he entertained the farmers to dinner in the best parlor, and afterward they all stood in the front garden, smoking cigars and praising Mrs. Dale’s roses and carnations.