and made up his mind that he must go to Luard and tell
him that the story was an invention. Though he
dreaded humiliation more than anything in the world,
he hugged himself for two or three days at the thought
of the agonising joy of humiliating himself to the
Glory of God. But he never got any further.
He satisfied his conscience by the more comfortable
method of expressing his repentance only to the Almighty.
But he could not understand why he should have been
so genuinely affected by the story he was making up.
The tears that flowed down his grubby cheeks were real
tears. Then by some accident of association there
occurred to him that scene when Emma had told him
of his mother’s death, and, though he could
not speak for crying, he had insisted on going in to
say good-bye to the Misses Watkin so that they might
see his grief and pity him.
XIV
Then a wave of religiosity passed through the school.
Bad language was no longer heard, and the little nastinesses
of small boys were looked upon with hostility; the
bigger boys, like the lords temporal of the Middle
Ages, used the strength of their arms to persuade those
weaker than themselves to virtuous courses.
Philip, his restless mind avid for new things, became
very devout. He heard soon that it was possible
to join a Bible League, and wrote to London for particulars.
These consisted in a form to be filled up with the
applicant’s name, age, and school; a solemn declaration
to be signed that he would read a set portion of Holy
Scripture every night for a year; and a request for
half a crown; this, it was explained, was demanded
partly to prove the earnestness of the applicant’s
desire to become a member of the League, and partly
to cover clerical expenses. Philip duly sent the
papers and the money, and in return received a calendar
worth about a penny, on which was set down the appointed
passage to be read each day, and a sheet of paper
on one side of which was a picture of the Good Shepherd
and a lamb, and on the other, decoratively framed
in red lines, a short prayer which had to be said
before beginning to read.
Every evening he undressed as quickly as possible
in order to have time for his task before the gas
was put out. He read industriously, as he read
always, without criticism, stories of cruelty, deceit,
ingratitude, dishonesty, and low cunning. Actions
which would have excited his horror in the life about
him, in the reading passed through his mind without
comment, because they were committed under the direct
inspiration of God. The method of the League
was to alternate a book of the Old Testament with
a book of the New, and one night Philip came across
these words of Jesus Christ:
If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only
do this which is done to the fig-tree, but also if
ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed,
and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
