Mrs. Warricombe was likewise observant, but with other emotions.  To her it seemed a subject for pleasurable reflection, that Mr. Chilvers should show interest in Sidwell.  The Rev. Bruno had bright prospects.  With the colour of his orthodoxy she did not concern herself.  He was ticketed ‘broad’, a term which carried with it no disparagement; and Sidwell’s sympathies were altogether with the men of ‘breadth’.  The time drew near when Sidwell must marry, if she ever meant to do so, and in comparison with such candidates as Mr Walsh and Godwin Peak, the Rector of St. Margaret’s would be an ideal husband for her.  Sidwell’s attitude towards Mr. Chilvers was not encouraging, but Mrs. Warricombe suspected that a lingering regard for the impostor, so lately unmasked, still troubled her daughter’s mind:  a new suitor, even if rejected, would help the poor girl to dismiss that shocking infatuation.

Sidwell and her father nowadays spent much time together, and in the autumn days it became usual for them to have an afternoon ramble about the lanes.  Their talk was of science and literature, occasionally skirting very close upon those questions which both feared to discuss plainly—­for a twofold reason.  Sidwell read much more than had been her wont, and her choice of authors would alone have indicated a change in her ways of thinking, even if she had not allowed it to appear in the tenor of her talk.  The questions she put with reference to Martin’s favourite studies were sometimes embarrassing.

One day they happened to meet Mr. Chilvers, who was driving with his eldest child, a boy of four.  The narrowness of the road made it impossible—­as Martin would have wished—­to greet and pass on.  Chilvers stopped the carriage and jumped out.  Sidwell could not but pay some attention to the youthful Chilvers.

‘Till he is ten years old,’ cried Bruno, ’I shall think much more of his body than of his mind.  In fact, at this age the body is the mind.  Books, books—­oh, we attach far too much importance to them.  Over-study is one of the morbific tendencies of our time.  Some one or other has been trying to frown down what he calls the excessive athleticism of our public schools.  No, no!  Let us rejoice that our lads have such an opportunity of vigorous physical development.  The culture of the body is a great part of religion.’  He always uttered remarks of this kind as if suggesting that his hearers should note them in a collection of aphorisms.  ’If to labour is to pray, so also is the practice of open-air recreation.

When they had succeeded in getting away, father and daughter walked for some minutes without speaking.  At length Sidwell asked, with a smile: 

‘How does this form of Christianity strike you?’

‘Why, very much like a box on the ear with a perfumed glove,’ replied Martin.

‘That describes it very well.’

They walked a little further, and Sidwell spoke in a more serious tone.